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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND; 



CONTAINING 



AN ACCOUNT 



OF THE 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT; 



■\VITH OTHER 



IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING MATTERS 



TO THE 



PRESENT TIME 



BY BENJAMIN F. THOMPSON, 

COUNSELLOR AT LAW. 



"History presents complete examplea. Experience is dotilily defrclive ; we are born too late 
to see tlit^ beginning, BTid we die t(»i soon t(i seo tile end <if many i lungs. History supplies lioih 
of tliese detVcts ; modern liisKiry sliows \.\\e causes, wlien expiiieiice pnsrnts the ijficts alone: 
and anciunt liistory enables us to guess at thv effects, wlien expeiience presents tlie causes alone." 

BoLINOBltUKE. 



NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY E. FRENCH, 146 NASSAU STREET. 

1839. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 3'ear 1839, by Eli French, in 
the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. 






V 



SCATCHERD AND ADAMS, FRINTEB3. 



To ' 

THE HONORABLE SILAS WOOD, 

LATE REPRESENTATIVE IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED 
STATES, FROM LONG ISLAND. 

Sir: 

The idea of dedicating this volume to you was co- 
existent with the resohition to enter upon the compi- 
lation of it ; and surely to no individual could it be 
so justly or appropriately inscribed, as to one, to 
whose talents, information, and indefatigable indus- 
try, the public are deeply indebted for the first at- 
tempt to perpetuate the civil and political history of 
Long Island. That publication has received, as it de- 
served, universal approbation ; and it is therefore 
much to be regretted that your inclination for repose 
should have prevented you from preparing a new and 
enlarged edition of the '^ Sketch of the first Settlement 
of the several Toivnsupon Long Island, ^^ in which event 
the present compilation would not have been under- 
taken. The materials of your work have been so 
fully incorporated into the present, as to give it a par- 
ticular claim to your favor. 

With sentiments of esteem and respect, I remain. Sir, 

Your obt. Servant, 

BENJ. F. THOMPSON. 

January 1, 1839. 



PREFACE 



In collecting materials for the History of Long Is- 
land, the compiler has sought to avail himself of every 
source of authentic and valuable information applica- 
ble to his design of making the work both interesting 
and useful. How far these endeavors may have been 
successful, must be submitted to the deliberate consi- 
deration of the reader. In justice to himself he can 
truly say he has avoided no reasonable labor or ex- 
pense to make the publication worthy the approba- 
tion of the public, although he has fallen far short of 
satisfying himself, or of accomplishing all that he had 
anticipated on his first setting out. Ornament of style 
and eloquence of description have not been among 
the primary objects of the compiler; his principal aim 
having been throughout to present a brief, yet correct 
account of such matters in relation to Long Island, as 
he conceived best worth preserving, and most likely 
to prove a repository of valuable historical and sta- 
tistical information. He is, however, constrained to 
acknowledge that had he, in the commencement, been 
able to realize in any considerable degree the labor 
and responsibility he was about to assume, and the 
obstacles to be encountered in his progress, he would 
have been most eflfectually deterred from the under- 
taking. The almost entire impracticability of de- 



n PREFACE. 

scribing, -with any degree of minuteness, so many 
towns, villages, and other localities, without incurring 
the charge of tediousness or repetition, is one of (he 
minor dilliculties which tiie com])iler has endeavored 
as nuich as possible to avoid. Another anil more 
ibrmiilable embarrassment presented itself in the 
progress oi" his researches, which Avas in great mea- 
sure unexpected, and had well nigh persuaded him 
to reiiiu|uish his further labor after a consiilerablo 
mass o( materials had been collected. This arose 
from the peculiar condition and deficiency of the re- 
cords of many of the twenty-one towns which he ex- 
amined. In general they are almost entirely wanting 
in matters of antiquity, and in others have been so 
negligently kept, as to be in great measure incaj)able 
of being understood. A few towns are comparative- 
ly of recent organization, having formerly been includ- 
ed in the territory of other towns, and of course can 
possess no records beyond the period of their for- 
mation ; which is the lact in the towns of North 
Hempstead and Kiverhead. In the town of Brooklyn 
there arc no remaining records reaching beyond the 
revolution, they having been carried away about the 
close of the war by some evil-disposed individual. In 
all the other towns in King's County, excepting 
Gravesend, the ancient entries are uniforndy in the 
Dutch language ; and this practice was in some in- 
stances continued lor half a century after the con- 
quest in lt)64. 

The hand-writing in many cases is so peculiar, and 
so much delaced by time or otherwise injured, as to 
be in a great degree unintelligible ; and those written 
in the Dutch language more particularly so, even to 



PREFACE, VU 

those who have some acquaintance with the language, 
now nearly obsolete; and, unless immediate measures 
are adopted in those towns to have tlieir ancient records 
transcribed in En^jrlish while anv one can be found 
competent to the task, they will become not only a 
sealed book, but, so far as utility is concerned, a mere 
blank ; and the compiler cannot but consider it mat- 
ter of very sincere regret that so much indifference 
should prevail regarding the preservation of these ve- 
nerable records of antiquity. When it is remember- 
ed that only two centuries have elapsed since this fair 
isle, now so far advanced in population and wealth, 
was the abode of a race of men scarcelv elevated in 
the scale of intelligence above the wild beasts with 
which the country at that period abounded, it cannot 
but be matter of some i nportance. as well as of curio- 
sity, to trace the progress of this strange eventful 
history, to mark tlie revolutions of time, and transmit 
its more important details to posterity. These consi- 
derations have been among the leading motives for 
this undertaking. A native of Long Island himself, 
and descended from an ancestry coeval with its set- 
tlement by Europeans, the compiler has been stimu- 
lated with the hope of being enabled to present to the 
attention of liis fellow-citizens a series of valuable 
and interesting facts and incidents of the olden times. 
He lias had the satisfactionj during the period devoted 
to this subject, to receive from the kindness of indivi- 
duals many valuable communications, and for which 
he begs to express his grateftd sense of obligation for 
favors thus gratuitously bestowed. His acknowledg- 
ments are especially due to the Hon. James Kent, 
Hon. Richard Riker, Joseph W. Moulton, Esq. William 



viii prefacl:. 

Dunlap, Esq. Dr. Samuel Akerly, and John L. Law- 
rence, Esq. of New- York ; Hon. Jeremiah Johnson, 
Hon. Gabriel Furman, and Benjamin D. Silliman, Esq. 
of Brooklyn ; Rev. Thomas M. Strong of Flathush ; 
Hon. Singleton Mitchill and Robert W. Mott, Esq. of 
North Hempstead ; Hon. Silas Wood of Huntington ; 
Dr. James E. Dekay and John Nelson lioyd, Esq. of 
Oysterbay ; Rev. Jonathan Hunting and Joseph H. 
Goldsmitli, Esq. of Southold ; Rev. John D. Gardiner 
and Luther D. Cook, Esq. of Sagg Harbor; Hon. John 
A. King and the Rev. William L. Johnson of Jamaica ; 
Selah B. Strong, Esq. and General John R. Satterly 
of Setauket. From the Hon. Secretary of State, and 
the clerks of the several counties and towns upon 
upon Long Island, the compiler has experienced the 
utmost courtesy ; all of whom have evinced their readi- 
ness to afford him every opportunity of examining tlie 
records and documents in their possession. The com- 
piler has been largely indebted to the contents of Mr. 
Wood's able and comprehensive " Sketch of the First 
Settlement of the several Towns upon T^ong Island," 
the most of which has been incorporated in the pages 
of this work. Many valuable matters have also been 
found in Mr. Furman's " Notes, Geographical and His- 
torical, relating to the Town of Brooklyn ;" and in the 
article, Geology of Long Island, the compiler has avail- 
ed himself of the very scientific and laborious reports 
of Mr. Mather, being the most faithful and circumstan- 
tial account ever published in relation to Long Island, 
and which has been considered of too much impor- 
tance to be omitted or abridge J. 

In this compilation, it is presumed something may 
be found interesting to all classes of readers ; and that 



PREFACE . IX 

it may hereafter be referred to as a record of facts 
connected with the first settlement of the country, and 
with our colonial and revolutionary history. No apo- 
logy, it is hoped, can be thought necessary for the oc- 
casional introduction of the names of individuals, and 
a few family details, which appeared to the compiler in 
some measure indispensable to the accomplishment 
of his object. Short biographical memoirs of some 
conspicuous characters have been introduced in con- 
nection with impartial narrative ; and the compiler 
laments the want of proper materials for the history 
of others whose lives and actions are associated with 
the annals of our island. He is aware that much im- 
portant matter might probably have been procured in 
time ; but this is incident to the very nature of History, 
which is made up of isolated facts gleaned from an 
infinity of sources ; so that if one should resolve not 
to publish till every thing was to be collected, his la- 
bor would never have an end ; and what was already 
obtained, would in the meantime remain useless to 
others. Those (says a modern author) who are un- 
acquainted with the nature of such an undertaking, 
may complain that we should publish before we had 
filled up all vacancies in our documents, and hence 
been able, not only to have been completely full upon 
every head, but at the same time to have given a more 
continuous narrative of the whole. This object, could 
it have been obtained, would have been as gratifying 
to the compiler as to the reader. But we can assure 
all such as are disposed to censure upon this score, 
that, had they been obliged to turn over, compare, ex- 
amine, and collate, as many volumes and defaced re- 
cords as the compiler has done, they would abandon 

2 



X PREFACE. 

their censure by the time they had well entered upon 
their labors. Works of this character will always 
appear premature, as least to their author, for the rea- 
.son that there is no end to the accumulation of ma- 
terials ; and out of the ma.ss of matter presented, he 
has but a choice of selection, and, after all, must neces- 
sarily reject much that is. in itself truly curious and 
valuable. 

When it is considered that there are sufficient ma- 
terials in the history of an individual town to make a 
respectable sized volume, the difficulty of comprising 
any thing like a complete account of twenty-one 
towns, with much other important matter, in a single 
volume of live or six hundred pages, will be perfectly 
apparent, and may constitute some apology for the 
imperfection of this work. 

Finally, should his endeavors to be useful in this in- 
stance prove in any considerable degree satisfactory 
to the community, the compiler will conceive himself 
amply rewarded for a few months devoted to the accom- 
plishment of an undertaking, which he believes to be 
of very great consequence both to the present and to 
future generations. 

Hempstead, {L. I.) Jamiary 1, 1839. 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 

Long Island may be described as the south-easterly portion 
of the State of New- York, and extending from about 40° 34' 
to 41° 10' North Latitude, and from 2° 58' to 5° 3' East Lon- 
gitude from WashinfTton City ; being in length, from Fort 
Hamilton at the Narrows to Montauk Point, nearly one hun- 
dred and forty miles, with a mean range North 90° 44' East. 
Its breadth from the Narrows, as far east as the Peconic Bay, 
varies from twelve to twenty miles in a distance of ninety 
miles, widening in a space of forty miles from Brooklyn, and 
then gradually lessening in width to the head of Peconic Bay. 
This bay is an irregular sheet of water, into which the Peconic 
River discharges itself, expanding in width as it proceeds 
eastwardly from Suffolk Court House, and separating this part 
of Long Island into two distinct branches, — the northerly 
branch terminating at Oyster Pond Point, and the southerly 
branch at the extremity of Montauk ; the latter branch being 
the longest of the two by about twenty miles. 

Long Island is bounded on the West partly by the Narrows, 
partly by New- York Bay and the East River, and partly by 
Long Island Sound ; on the North by the Sound ; on the East 
by the Sound and Gardiner's Bay ; and on the South by the 
Atlantic Ocean, together with the islands called the North and 
South Brother, and Riker's Island in the East River ; Plumb 
Island, Great and Little Gull Island, Fisher's Island, and Gar- 
diner's Island in the Sound ; and Shelter Island, and Robin's 
Island in Peconic Bay. Probable area of the whole, fifteen 



12 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

hundred square miles, or nine hundred and sixty thousand 
acres. A rid^e or cliain of hills, more or less elevated, com- 
mences at New Utrecht in King's County, and extends, with 
occasional interruptions and depressions, to near Oyster Pond 
Point in the County of Suffolk. In some parts this ridge or 
spine (as it is sometimes called) is covered by forest, and in 
others entirely naked, having stones, and frequently rocks of 
considerable size, upon their very summits, presenting to the 
geologist and philosopher a curious subject of inquiry and spe- 
culation. The surface of the island north of the ridge is in 
general rough and broken, excepting some of the necks and 
points that stretch into the Sound, which are, for the most part, 
level ; while the surface south of the ridge is almost a perfect 
plain, destitute not only of rocks, but even of stones exceeding 
in weiorht a few ounces. On both sides of the island are nu- 
merous streams, discharging their contents into bays and har- 
bors, alfording convenient sites for various manufacturing 
establishments ; while the bays themselves are navigable for 
vessels of considerable size, where they are well protected from 
storms and heavy winds. On the south side of the island is 
that remarkable feature in the geography of the country, the 
great South Bay, extending from Hempstead in Queen's Coun- 
ty, to the eastern boundary of Brookhaven — a distance of more 
than seventy miles of uninterrupted inland navigation. It is 
in width from two to five miles, and communicating with the 
sea by a few openings in the beach, the principal of which 
is opposite the town of Islip, called Fire Island Inlet, and 
through which most of the vessels enter the bay. In this bay 
are very extensive tracts of salt marsh, and islands of meadow, 
furnishing an immense quantity of grass annually to the inha- 
bitants ; and its waters are equally prolific of almost every 
variety of shell and scale fish, which can never be exhausted. 
Wild fowl of many kinds, and in countless numbers, are found 
here, atfording a pleasant recreation to the sportsman, and a 
source of profitable employment to many hundreds of indivi- 
duals, who pursue it as matter of emolument. Indeed, the 
country generally, as well as the markets of New-York and 
Brooklyn, are mostly supplied by the produce of this bay, and 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 13 

is a mine of inexhaustible wealth. The bony fish that abound 
here are used extensively for fertilizing the soil, and is unsur- 
passed by any other manure. The beach which separates this 
bay from the ocean, is composed entirely of sand, which in 
many places is drifted by the winds into hills of the most fan- 
tastic forms, and in other parts is low and flat, scarcely rising a 
few feet above the level of the ocean. Very great and extra- 
ordinary changes are constantly taking place on this beach, 
exposed, as it is, to the continual action of the winds and the 
heavy waves of the wide and boisterous Atlantic. While in 
some parts much of the beach has been washed away, in 
others large accretions of alluvial matter have been made ; 
and at the same time the sand is carried onward so as that the 
guts or inlets are constantly progressing to the westward. In 
some instances these changes have been so rapid, that persons 
now living can remember when some of these inlets were 
miles farther to the eastward than they now are. Some 
persons have accounted for this progressive alteration from 
what they suppose to be the indirect effects of the Gulf Stream, 
which, moving in immense volume with a velocity of five 
miles the hour without diminution or interruption in an east- 
wardly direction, sweeping past the American coast from the 
Gulf of Mexico to Newfoundland, causes a current or eddy 
upon the shore in an opposite direction ; and its materials being 
composed of loose sand, is carried onward by the force of the 
current, and deposited in places to the westward. The ex- 
istence of .such a current upon the southern shore of Long 
Island is demonstrated by the fitct of ordinary occurrence, that 
goods cast into the sea near the coast will soon be found float- 
ing to the west, without the agency of the wind or other cause, 
than the motion of the water in that direction. In the winter of 
1814 and 181.5, the bodies of those who were drowned in the 
wreck of the British Sloop of War, Sylph, as well as parts of the 
vessel and cabin furniture, were found, in a surprisingly short 
period after, along the beach to the eastward, even as far as Fire 
Island, more than fifty miles from the place where the accident 
occurred. That the existence of this current not beiiior exten- 
sively known among mariners may account for some shipwrecks 



14 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

upon this coast, is to be presumed, as some of them would seem 
to be otherwise unaccountable, except from a wilful exposure 
of property and life, by intentional casting of vessels upon 
the coast. The southern shore of the island is everywhere 
inaccessible to vessels of a large class, in consequence of the 
flats and sand bars which stretch parallel with, and at a short 
distance from, the beach. This is usually denominated the bar, 
aud in some places there are two, called the outer and the 
inner bar. ' 

The north, or Sound shore of Long Island is very irregu- 
lar, being influenced in shape and form by the numerous bays 
and headlands, and is fortified against the wasting effects of the 
waves by masses of stones and rocks, projecting in some 
places beyond the edge of the cliffs ; and where these are not 
found, the coast has evidently been worn away to a consider- 
able extent by the sea in the course of centuries. The ridge or 
spine of the island has some considerable high hills, and are 
seen at a great distance at sea, serving as land-marks to the 
sailor nearing the coast. One of these, called Harbor Hill in 
the town of North Hempstead, has been ascertained to be 319 
feet above tide water ; and another in the West Hills, town of 
Huntington, 339 feet elevation above the sea. There is, how- 
ever, reason to believe that both are much higher than has 
heretofore been supposed. Long Island Sound, a Mediterra- 
nean Sea, separating the island from the main land of Connec- 
ticut, is connected with the ocean at each end of the island. 
The Sound proper may be said to commence about Throg's 
Point, near which place the tides by Sandy Hook and Montauk 
generally meet each other. The course of the Sound is about 
N. E. for eighteen miles between Stamford and Lloyd's Neck, 
in which distance the shores are rugged and the channel 
rocky, interrupted by small islands and projecting points. Be- 
yond Lloyd's Neck, the Sound opens into a noble elliptical 
expanse, from ten to twenty miles wide; presenting a fine view 
of gently rising hills and sloping vallies, forests and cultivated 
fields beautifully intermixed. The water of the Sound is in 
general sufficient for vessels of the greatest draught, and free 
fxom obstructions to its navigation. Its length is about one 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 15 

hundred and fifty miles, reckoning from Sandy Hook to Mon- 
tauk ; and its average breadth may be about twelve miles. In 
some places it is more than twenty. The force of the current 
between Oyster Pond Point and Pluinb Island is very great, 
but is exceeded by that called the Race in the vicinity of the Gull 
Islands, which, when increased by a north-east storm, is tre- 
mendous. 

Proceeding eastwardly from the city of New- York, the East 
River, as it is generally denominated, has a tortuous course of 
sixteen miles. From the Battery to the mouth of Harlaem 
River, eight miles, the course is N. N. E. ; and from thence to 
Throg's Point, east nearly eight miles more. At the bend 
opposite Harlaem River is the noted pass or strait, called Hell 
Gate, which is crooked ; and from the numerous rocks, islands, 
eddies, and currents, is somewhat difficult and dangerous, par- 
ticularly for vessels of large size ; and many serious accidents 
have occurred at this place. The danger, however, is not so 
great as used to be supposed, or as much so as appears from 
the agitation of its waters at half tide to a stranger on his visit 
to the spot. At such times the water forms, by its course among 
the rocks, noisy whirlpools of terrific aspect, and capable of 
swallowing up or dashing in pieces the largest ships exposed 
to their influence. Besides the streams which empty into the 
Sound from the shore of Long Island, there are several considera- 
ble rivers of Connecticut that pour their contents into it from the 
north ; among these may be mentioned the Saugatuc, the Hou- 
satonic, the Thames, and the Connecticut. The opinion has 
sometimes been advanced that the bed of the Sound was at 
some remote period covered by the waters of a lake ; and 
there are many geological facts in corroboration of the opinion 
also entertained, that the shores of Long Island and the Island 
of Manhattan were once contiguous. A tradition is said to 
have prevailed among the Indians in that quarter that their 
ancestors could once cross from one side to the other upon the 
rocks. These shores strongly resemble each other in their 
character and structure, and the probability of their former 
union may be supposed as well established as the nature of the 
case admits. 



16 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 



SOIL AND CLIMATE. 

The soil of Lon^ Island is of a diversified character, and it 
is therefore difficult to give such a description as is applicable 
to any considerable part of it. Like the surface, it possesses 
a very great variety. It may be said, in general terms, of the 
soil upon the north side, the surface of which is undulating, 
that loam prevails ; that upon the south is more sand than loam ; 
while through the middle of the island it is composed chiefly 
of sand or gravel, covered by a thin stratum of mould formed 
by the decomposition of vegetable matters through a long series 
of years. The soil upon the high grounds is in most cases 
better than that upon the plains, yet that found upon the Points 
or Necks on both sides of the island are better than any other. 
The great Hempstead plain is principally composed of a coarse 
black sand, but possessing enough of inherent fertility to afford 
a sufficiency of pasture for many thousand cattle and sheep for 
more than half the year, and, when manured with ashes, is ren- 
dered quite productive. There is another extensive tract lying 
eastward from the Hempstead plains, and reaching to the head 
of Peconic Bay, composed so entirely of sand as to seem in a 
great measure incapable of any profitable cultivation by any 
process at present known. The soil of King's County possesses 
a greater natural fertility than almost any upon the island, ex- 
cept, perhaps, some parts of Newtown and Flushing. And the 
lands upon Great Neck, Little Neck, and Cow Neck, are also 
extremely fertile, and valuable for agricultural purposes. The 
extensive tracts of salt meadow and marshes, which abound in 
almost every part, particularly in the great south bay, furnish 
an immense quantity of healthy and nutritious food for large 
stocks of cattle, horses, (fcc. The shell banks, which heretofore 
existed upon the sites of ancient Indian villages, have been used 
as a manure with advantage. Upon the south side of the island, 
and in the towns of Riverhead and Southold, the bony fish has 
for several years past been the main article relied upon for fer- 
tilizing the soil ; and the quantity of hay and grain which has 
been produced by it from a single acre, is extraordinary. The 



SOIL AND CLIMATE. 17 

abundance of this kind of fish, and the comparative cheapness 
of the article, will probably always insure its use in those parts 
of the island where tfiey are taken with the greatest facility 
and in the greatest quantity. 

There is reason to believe that the farmers of Long Island 
furnish annually, for transportation to market, a surplus of beef, 
pork, hay. and grain, amounting to more thati $1.50,000 in va- 
lue; and in all probability the produce of the South Bay falls 
very little short of that sum. The fire-wood sent annually to 
other places from the bays and harbors of this island must 
have amounted at least to .$00,000 for the last forty years. The 
value of a good part of whicli last article has been returned in 
ashes and other manure. 

The climate of Long Island depends as much upon its insu- 
lar situation as upon the latitude in which it is situated. The 
influence of the sea renders it more temperate than many other 
places in the same latitude in the interior. The humidity of 
our atmosphere and its variableness of temperature, renders it 
perhaps less conducive to health and longevity than if it were 
either colder or warmer, and less liable, at the same time, to great 
and sudden alterations. In the summer, and generally in the 
afternoon, the island is almost regularly fanned by a breeze 
from the ocean, which renders it a desirable place of residence 
at that enervating season of the year. The same cause melts 
the snow in winter, and often before it reaches the ground. 
The west and south-west winds predominate in more than half 
the months of the year ; the thermometer seldom falling below 
zero in winter, or rising above ninety degrees in summer; tiie 
mean temperature being about fifty-one degrees, which is tiie 
ordinary temperature of springs and deep wells. 

It is well known that the temperature of places in the same 
latitude is modified by the elevation of the land, the state of 
cultivation, proximity to the sea, or large bodies of water that 
do not freeze, and by the course of the prevailing winds. The 
ten)perature of the air is supposed to decrease in the same lati- 
tude one degree for every 590 feet of elevation above the level 
of the sea. The elevation of Mexico Icing 7217 feet above 

3 



18 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

the sen, in latitude 19° 18', reduces the temperature to that of 
places on a level of the sea in latitude 33" 30'. 

The United States arc less elevated above the sea than Eu- 
rope, and the dillerence is in favor of a milder climate with us. 
The climate of this country has been estimated to be from 10 
to 15 deforces colder than the corresponding latitudes in Eu- 
rope, From the description of the climate of France and Italy 
by the Roman writers a few years before the Christian era, 
the temperature of those countries could not have been mate- 
rially ditlerent from that of the United States at present. Their 
rivers were frozen solid, and the earth covered with snow more 
or less of the winter. Experience shows that rivers do not 
congeal with any degree of solidity until the thermometer is 
as low as 20, and in the United States in the latitude of Italy. 
The thermometer at present is seldom below 20 more than a 
few days during the winter. To produce the elfects described, 
must have required quite as severe frost as now prevails in the 
same latitude in the United States, if not more so ; and the 
same causes which have produced the change in the climate 
there, will have the same elfeet here, so far as they are common 
to both countries. The clearing up and cultivating the coun- 
try is the most powerful cause that has contributed to this ef- 
fect, and will have a oreat inlluence in melioratins" the climate 
of the country. The trees which cover an uncultivated coun- 
try, shield it from the rays of the sun, nud deprive the earth of 
the heat derived usually from that sonrce. It is proved by ex- 
periment thai the temperature of improved land is ten degrees 
greater than wood land. 

Evaporation and rain are sources of cold, and are more 
abundant in a country covered with timber ; more moisture is 
supposed to evaporate from the leaves of a given quantity of 
green timber than from the same extent of water. The inllu- 
ence of these causes is lessened by cultivation ; the earth be- 
comes warmer and drier, and the temperature of the air is in- 
creased. The air from the sea has also a powerful etfect on 
the climate ; the sea being 8 or 10 degrees warmer in winter 
and colder in summer than the earth, and in proportion as the 
country is cleared, the air from the sea penetrates further into 



GEOLOGY OP LONG ISLAND. 19 

the country, moderntes the heat in summer and the cold in 
winter ; and operates to render the temperature of the seasons 
more mild and uniform. The climate is also affected by the 
course of the winds. Formerly upon Lou^ Island the north- 
west was the predominant wind in the winter months, and tiie 
north-east wind generally prevailed in the spring, and some- 
times in the foil ; but at present, as before observed, the west 
and south-west are predominant in more than half the months 
in the year. I'hese winds either corne from the sea, or blow 
over a country less cold than that traversed by the north-west 
and north-east winds, and of course more mild and temperate. 

The climate here is evidently undergoing a change, and be* 
coming more uniform than heretofore ; the winters are less 
severely cold, and the summers not so scorching hot. 

The extreme cold, and its long continuance in some seasons 
at intervals of eight or ten years, is probably attributable to the 
effect of large bodies of floating ice, which is formed at the 
Pole, and being detached from the great mass, is brought by 
the prevailing currents towards our coast, thereby disturbing 
the ordinary course of the seasons, and making the air, while 
passing our latitude, much colder and of longer continuance 
than it would otherwise be. 

Thus, in the year 1816 there was frost upon Long Island in 
every month of the year, and the corn was killed almost uni- 
versally by the fifth of September. The same cause occasioned 
the cold summers of 1836 and 1837, but not to the same extent, 
the floating ice being less extensive, or was carried by the 
winds further from the shores. 

GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Long Island does not present as much variety to the obser- 
vation of the philosopher and geologist as some other parts of 
the state ; yet there is probably enough to warrant the belief of 
its gradual formation by natural causes, and that a greater part 
of the island, if not the whole, has been reclaimed from the 
ocean. 

The discoveries made in excavating the earth to great depths 



20 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

in various places, seem to have left this point no longer a mat- 
ter of uncertainty or doubt with those who carefully consider 
the subject. The reasonings and conclusions which these 
surprising developments have given rise to, are, to the scientific 
inquirer, most curious and interesting. 

It is abundantly demonstrated that very extensive alterations 
have taken place, and are still in progress upon the shores, and 
within bays and harbors, by the inroads which the sea is in- 
cessantly making in some places, and the large accretions to 
the land in other locations. 

The more extensive and extraordinary marine encroach- 
ments have been and are now in continual operation upon the 
south shore of the island, the materials of which it is gene- 
rally constructed being incapable of opposing any considerable 
barrier to the violence of winds and waves, especially during 
the existence of heavy storms, driving, with inconceivable force 
and augiinnted energy, against the soft and yielding substance 
of the headlands and beaches. 

Its effects and ravages are perceptible to the most common 
observation from one end of the island to the other ; yet pro- 
bably in no one place so palpable as about Gravesend, and 
particularly in the neighborhood of Coney Island. John Van 
Dyck, Esq. recollects when the beach at Coney Island was 
composed of high and extensive sand-hills, where it is now a 
flat and level beach, sometimes covered by the tides; and 
he has cut grass upon a part of the beach which is now at a 
considerable distance in the sea. At other places where the 
water was of sufficient depth to float vessels of 50 tons, it is 
now solid ground. Mr. Court Lake, of the same place, aged 
79, states that his grandfather, about 110 years ago, cut a quan- 
tity of cedar posts upon a part of Coney Island which is now 
two miles in the ocean ; and that he has himself cut fire-wood 
at a place now a mile and a half from the shore. There was 
also a house upon Pine Island, owned by one Brown, the site 
of which is now a great way at sea; and that Plumb Island 
was once covered by fine timber, where there is none now, the 
greatest part of the land having washed away. 

The following interesting matter, contained in the learned 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 21 

Reports made to the Legislature by W. W. Mather, Esq., relat- 
ing to Long Island, is of too much consequence to be omitted. 
The coast of Long Island on the south side, from Montauk 
Point to Nepeague beach, a distance of about 10 miles, is con- 
stantly washing away by the action of the heavy surf against 
the base of the cliffs, protected only by narrow shingle beaches 
of a few yards or rods in width. The pebbles and boulders 
of these beaches serve as a partial protection to the cliffs during 
ordinary tides in calm weather, but even then, by the bouldering 
action of the surf as it tumbles upon the shore, they are cimtinu- 
ally grinding into sand and liner materials, and swept far away 
by the tidal currents. During storms and high tides the surf 
breaks directly against the base of the cliffs, and as they are form- 
ed only of loose materials, as sand and clay with a substratum 
of boulders, pebbles, gravel, and loam, we can easily appreciate 
the destructive agency of the heavy waves, rolling in unbroken 
from the broad Atlantic. The destruction of land from this 
cause is less than one would be led to suppose, hut still it is 
considerable. The road from Nepeague beach to Montauk 
Point, which was originally at some distance from the shore, 
has disappeared in several places by the falling of the cliffs. 
Tliere are no data by which to estimate the inroads of the sea 
on this coast, as this part of the island is held in common by 
many associated individuals, who use it for pasturage, and it 
is inhabited by three herdsmen only, who are frequently 
changed, and who live several miles distant from each other. 

From Nepeague beach to two miles west of Southampton 
the south coast of Long Island is protected by a broad and 
slightly inclined sand beach, which breaks the force of the surf 
as it rolls in from the ocean. From Southampton, westward 
the coast of the island is protected by long narrow islands, from 
one mile to five or six distant from the main island. 

Some parts of the north shore of the south branch of the 
island, from Montauk Point towards Sagg Harbor, are washino- 
away, bat not so rtipidly as on the south side of this branch of 
the island. 

The eastern parts of Gardner's and Plum Islands, which are 
composed of loose materials, are washing away in consequence 



22 HISTORY OF LONG ISLANH. 

of the very stronjr tidal cnnent?, and the heavy sea roUinsf in 
upon their shores from tlio open ocean. The action ujion 
tliese coasts is so rajiid as to attract the attention of the inha- 
hitants, and ealcniations even liave been made as to the time 
that will probably elapse before they will have disappeared. 
Rocks (l)onlders), that have formed a part of Plum Island, may 
now be observed at low water a mile or more from the present 
shore. 

Little Gull Island, on wliich a light-house is located, was 
disappearing so rajiidly a few ^rcnrs since, that it became ne- 
cessary to protect it from the farther inroads of the ocean by 
encircling it with a strong sea wall. 

Oyster Pond Point is wearing away rapidly, by the combined 
action of the waves during lieavy north-east storms, and the 
strong tidal current, which flows witii great velocity tln'ough 
Plum Gut. A small redoubt, about one quarter of a mile west 
of the Point, is nearly washed away; and Mr. Lalham, the 
owner of the farm, says, that several rods in width have dis- 
appeared since his remembrance. During the heavy storm of 
the I2th Oct. 1830, the sea made a clear breach over about one 
quarter of a mile of the eastern part of the Point, washed away 
all the lisfht materials, and cut a shallow channel through 
which the tide now flows. The ellects of this storm were very 
marked at many localities on the north shore. The clilVs were 
undermined, and crumbled or slid down, exposing the geolo- 
o-ical structure, and presenting beautiful coast sections of the 
strata. The time subsequent to the storm until the winter set 
in, was devoted exclusively to meandering the coast on the 
north part of Sutfolk County, in order to inspect in detail the 
oeoloo-ical structure and phenomena of the alluvial and tertiary 
deposites. 

The destroying action of the sea upon the headlands and 
clitfs, where currents and a heavy surf beat against the coast, 
has been considered. Another effect of the sea is, the formation 
of marine alluvion. It results from the deposition of the mate- 
rials transported coastwise by tidal and marine currents, and 
by the action of the waves in the direction of the prevailing 
winds and storms. The winds which produce the greatest 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 23 

transport of alluvial matter on the coast of Lonpf Island, are 
from the north-east, during' the heavy north-cast storms. 'J'hese 
storms brinj^ in a heavy sea from the ocean, which, roliinfr oh- 
liqiiely aloncr the shore, aided by the powerful tidal currents, 
sweeps the alluvia along in a westerly direction. The north- 
west winds arc nearly as powerful as the north- east, and blow 
for a much lonfjer period in the year ; but do not bring- an ocean 
swell, and the waves which they raise fall upon the shore in a 
line nearly perpendicular to the trend of the coast ; so that their 
effect is to grind the pebbles and gravel to sand by the action 
of the surf, rather than to transport them coastwise. In this 
way, outlets of small bays are frequently more or less obstructed 
by bars, shoals, and spits, formed by the tidal currents sweeping 
past their mouths, and depositing the materials in the eddy 
formed by the meeting of the currents. If the strongest cur- 
rents and prevailing winds be coincident in direction, the out- 
let of the harbor will of course be found upon the leeward side. 
Almost every bay, inlet, and marsh on the north coast of 
Long Island, and also on the south coast, where they are not 
protected from the sea by the long sandy islands which have 
been mentioned in the preceding article, have their outlets 
blocked up entirely by the materials deposited, or so nearly as 
to leave only narrow entrances. Strong currents set along the 
shore, and these, aided by the oblique action of the surf, roll the 
pebbles and sand up the beach, which, on the retiring of the 
waves, are swept again into the surf, having described a semi- 
circular Ime, and perhaps progressed several feet by the action 
of a single wave. This mode of transport is seen almost every- 
where on these coasts. The cliffs are undermined, and the 
coarser parts of their wrecks are thus tumbled along from place 
to place by each succeeding storm. The particular local 
effects of such causes can only be fully understood by visiting the 
localities, or having accurate detailed topographical maps, like 
those now in progress under the supervision of the superinten- 
dent of the National Coast Survey. It is hoped that those 
maps of Long Island will be published before the geological 
survey of the State of New- York shall have been completed, 
in order that an accurate, detailed map of tliis part of the 



24 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



State may be formed, so as to illustrate (he miincrous important 
geological details. Tlie transporting action above alluded to, 
has been the most effective agent in the formation of the marine 
alluvians of Long Island. This island has been composed of 
one principal, and several small detached islands, which are now 
connected with each other and with the main island. The 
east end of the island, from Montauk Point to Nepeague beach, 
seems to have been, at some former time, two separate islands, 
which have since been coimected with each other and with 
the main island by the westward cnrrents sweepinjr aiono- de- 
trital matter, derived from the continual destruction of cliffs of 
loose materials. Nepeague beach is five miles long, a great 
part of which is loose, drifting sand, enclosing marshes and 
salt ponds. This beach is so low in some places that the 
tides frequently overflow it. The skeleton of a whale is said 
to be now imbedded in these sands. At Fort Pond Bay, a few 
miles east of Nepeague beach, a narrow strip of shingle, fre- 
quently overflowed by the tides, separates the Atlantic from 
this bay, which is separated i>om Long Island Sound by a 
beach sometimes open, but often blocked up with sand. Great 
Hoz Neck and Little Hog Neck, near Sagg Harbor, were once 
islands, vdiicli have been united by a sand and shingle beach, 
and the latter with the main island. Farrington Neck, a few 
miles west of these, was an island which is now united with 
the main island by a low beach. That part of the township of 
Southold, which is sitiuited on the main island, was originally 
three islands, now connected with each other and with the 
main island by beaches and marshes of alluvial formation. 
The effects of alluvial action can be distinctly seen on the 
map of Oyster Pond Point. It shows where two of the 
islands, which were once separated from the east end of the 
north branch of Long Island, have been connected by a beach 
and sand spit, enclosing a lar^e pond, with an outlet only wide 
enough for a mill sluice. A tide mill is constructed at this 
outlet. 

Those long points of alluvion, called sand spits, projecting 
from the land in the line of the eddy currents, and formed by 
them, are very conunon, and are, in fact, the unfinished beaches 



GEOLOGY OP LONG ISLAND. 26 

which will eventually obstruct the outlet of harbors and bays, 
and connect islands with each other. An interesting alluvial 
formation is now in progress on the north and north-west 
sides of Lloyd's Neck, in Huntington, and formed entirely by 
the deposite of the coarse delrital matter swept along by the 
current from the destruction of the high cliffs in the vicinity. 
This deposite is about one quarter of a mile broad, partly 
marsh and salt pond, protected by a high bank of shingle 
piled up and continued westward, so that the present outlet 
of the pond is half a mile further west than it was within a 
recent period ; the shingle having been continually swept 
westward, while the flux and reflux of the tide through the 
narrow channel keeps its outlet open. 

The ponds and small bays on the south side of Long Island, 
in the townships of South and East Hampton, frequently have 
their outlets closed by beaches formed by the detrilal matter 
swept coastwise by the tidal currents and the waves. The long 
sandy islands on the south coast of Long Island, which protect 
it from the heavy waves of the Atlantic, are doubtless formed 
by the same cause. Long Beach is a sand-spit, extending from 
Ben's Point, near Oyster Pond Point, westward four and one- 
fourth miles ; and has been formed by the detritus swept coast- 
wise, and deposited in the eddy currents. This beach gives 
safety to Oyster Pond's harbor, by serving as a natural break- 
water. Two sand-spits were observed in Cold Spring harbor, 
resulting from causes similar to those above detailed. 

The headlands and cliffs on this part of the island are con- 
tinually wearing away by the action of the sea; and the mate- 
rials of which they are composed, consisting principally of clay, 
sand, gravel, and pebbles, are transported by tidal currents, 
and deposited in other places. The tidal currents, in sweeping 
along the headlands and cliffs, undermine them, and, transport- 
ing the materials from which they are composed, form shoals, 
block up the mouths of small inlets and creeks, so as to form 
fresh-water ponds, by preventing the ingress of salt water, 
throw up sand beaches in front of marshes, form sand-spits 
across the mouths of harbors, and connect islands with each 
other and the main land. 



26 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Huntington Harbor, certainly one of the best on the island, 
is of alluvial origin. By reference to the map of Long Island 
it will be seen that this harbor is formed by two necks of land, 
Lloyd's Neck on the west and north-west, and Eaton's Neck 
on the east and north-east. Lloyd's Neck, which was originally 
an island, has been connected with the main island by a low 
sand beach, now overflowed at high water. Eaton's Neck was 
formerly a cluster of four islands, which have in some way 
been connected with each other and with the main island. A 
sand-spit, one and one-fourth mile in length, and from ten to 
twenty rods in width, makes out into the harbor from the 
south-west part of Eaton's Neck, and adds much to its safety ; 
as also a similar one from the south-east part of Lloyd's Neck. 

There is abundant evidence that this harbor, and the safe- 
ty of the smaller ones in the vicinity, are the result of alluvial 
action. The materials composing the sand-beaches and spits 
which I have mentioned, are precisely like those now thrown 
up by the action of the surf; they consist of pebbles, gravel, 
and fine siliceous sand, interspersed with water-worn shells 
belonging to genera and species now living on the coast ; and 
they are destitute of boulders, which characterise all those low 
places formed by the degradation of the superincumbent ma- 
terials. 

The beach, connecting Eaton's Neck with the main island, 
is three and a half miles in length, and ten to thirty rods in 
width. Mr. Gardner, who "keeps the light" on Eaton's Neck, 
informed me, that some years since, a vessel, during a violent 
storm, having been driven upon this beach, and an excavation 
made to get her off, marsh mud was found beneath the sand 
near tide water level, precisely like that in a small marsh on 
the opposite side of the beach, clearly indicating the manner of 
formation at that place. 

On the north-west part of Eaton's Neck, a sand-beach, one- 
half or three-fourths of a mile in length, has been thrown up in 
front of a marsh containing several acres. It has formed rapid- 
ly since the remembrance of Mr. Gardner, who says he has 
seen sloops, loaded with wood, float in places now some feet 
above tide water level. 



1 



GEOLOGY OP LONG ISLAND. • 27 

The long stretch of beach connecting Eaton's Neck with 
the main island, is continued three-fourths of a mile eastward, 
and is, a part of the way, formed in front of cliffs which it pro- 
tects from the farther encroachment of the sea, and the remain- 
ing distance, before a small pond skirted with marsh, which 
formerly communicated with the sea by means of a creek, now 
filled with alluvial sand. 

A sand-beach, one-fourth of a mile in length, has been form- 
ed between Long Island Sound and Crab Meadows, through 
which a creek, entering obliquely from the north-west, passes in 
a serpentine direction through the marsh. By the action of vio- 
lent winds, the finer particles of sand are formed into hillocks, 
which are very slowly moving inland. 

At Fresh Pond Creek is a similar sand-beach. The small 
pond at thict place communicates with the sea by means of a 
small creek, wliich is often filled by alluvial sands, so as to pre- 
vent the ingress of the salt water. The obstruction has some- 
times been removed by digging, and at others, the water, ris- 
ing in the pond, bursts its barrier, and finds its way to the 
ocean, removing every obstacle, and making the channel deep- 
er even than before. 

At Sunken Meadows is a sand-beach one-half mile in length, 
through which a creek enters obliquely from the north-east. 
Mr. Abraham Smith says that this beach has extended thirty 
rods in an easterly direction since his remembrance. 

On the north part of Crane's Neck is a shingle beach, about 
a mile in length, between Flax Pond and the Sound. The 
pond is skirted with marsh, and communicates with the sea by 
an opening called Flax Pond Gut. The tidal current is so 
strong on this part of the coast, that the finer materials have 
been carried onwards ; while the coarser, consisting of pebbles, 
varying in size from a marble to two or three inches in diame- 
ter, have been left to form this beach. A large proportion of 
the finer materials appear to have been swept to the south-west 
part of the neck, where, having been deposited, they form shoals, 
and a Ions sand-beach between the sea and a marsh of several 
acres in extent. 

By the action of water on the headlands, sand-spits have 



28 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



been formed across the mouths of Old Man's, Drown Meadow, 
Setauket, Ston y Brook, and Smithtown harbors. They are ren- 
dered safer by these alluvial deposites, but they afford shelter only 
to vessels of small burthen, on account of sand-bars, which ex- 
tend from the extreme points of the sand-spits across their en- 
trances, which, I am informed, in some instances, are moving 
westward. 

Land-slides, on a small scale, are a very common occurrence 
on the north coast of Long Island. They are in some places 
caused by the sea undermining the cliffs, so that the super- 
incumbent masses crack off at a short distance from their 
edges, and slide down to a lower level, carrying with them 
tyees and shrubs, and sometimes without even changing their 
relative position. Where the cliffs are high, they present the 
appearance of steps, in consequence of the successive slides. A 
great number of examples of these slides may be seen a little 
west of Petty's Bight, between Hudson's and Roanoke Points, 
and between Eastbrook and Swezey's landing. One of the 
most remarkable slides is at Fresh Pond Creek. The land hav- 
ing thus slidden down within the reach of the surf, is carried 
away at high tides and during storms, thus allowing new 
slides to take place in succession. 

Sand-dunes are low hills of loose sand, which have been 
piled up by the wind like drifting snow heaps, and, like them, 
are frequently changing their magnitude and position ; so that, 
in some places, productive lands are buried by the moving ma- 
terials, while in others they are uncovered by their removal. 
An instance was mentioned to me of land in Southampton hav- 
ing been inundated by sand, and after a lapse of about fifty 
years, it was uncovered by its drifting off. On sea-coasts, and in 
some other places in the interior of a country, the atmosphere 
is often clouded during high winds with the lighter particles 
of drifting sand, while the heavier are rolled along on the sur- 
face. Every obstacle which creates an eddy current in the 
wind, as a rock, fence, bush or tree, causes a deposite of sand, 
which often serves as a nucleus of a hillock. The sand-banks, 
when first formed, present almost as much variety of outline 
and form as snow-drifts after a snow-storm. Examples were 



GEOLOGY OP LONG IgLAND. 29 

observed on the north shore of Long Island during the heavy 
winds of October, where heaps of drift sand, two or three feet 
deep, were formed in a few hours behind boulders and blocks 
of rock, which created eddy currents in the wind. Sand- 
banks, several feet deep, were observed in some of the ra- 
vines next the beach, that had been formed between the time 
of the storm of the 12th, and the time observed on the 17th of 
October. A small pond near Horton's Point has been convert- 
ed into a meadow by the drifting sand filling it up, within the 
remembrance of Mr. Horton of Southold. 

The sand-dunes along the shore are so prominent as to mark 
the line of coast in many places, when seen at the distance of 
several miles, presenting a very broken, undulating or serrat- 
ed outline of white hillocks, from ten to forty feet high. On 
almost all the beaches are hillocks of drift sand, and m many 
places the high bluffs on the north coast are capped with them. 
Jacob's Hill, north-west of Mattituck, was once much higher 
than Cooper's Hill east of it ; but the sand has blown off, so 
that it is now much lower at the former place. Some arable 
land has been covered over, and red cedar trees have been 
buried by the drift sand. The grounds occupied by the dunes are 
exceedingly irregular in form ; in some places covered with 
small round-backed hills, with deep, irregular or bowl-shaped 
valleys, formed by the wind scooping the sand out where it is 
not confined by the roots of the scanty vegetation that gains a 
foothold in some places. 

The south shore of Long Island, from Nepeague Beach to 
Southampton, is skirted with a line of sand-hills, presenting a very 
irregular, broken appearance in the distance. Nepeague beach 
is covered for a considerable breadth with loose, drifting sands, 
forming small hillocks of almost every variety of shape. The 
South Beach of Long Island is almost entirely a line of hil- 
locks, and is composed of a chain of long narrow islands of 
land, from one to six miles from the main land. 

Three kinds of sand are found on Long Island, viz. : siliceous 
sand, garnet sand, and iron sand. These sands are mixed 
with each other in variable proportions. They result, as has 
before been remarked, from the degradation of land, the disin- 



30 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

tcgration of boulders, and the grinding up of pebbles by the 
action of the surf. 

The sihceous sand is found everywhere along the coast, and 
constitutes most of the soil of the island. In some localities 
it contains grains of red and yellow feldspar ; in others, grains 
of black hornblende. Much of it is of good quality for the 
manufacture of common glass, for sawing marble, and for 
making mortar. 

Red p-arnet sand is not uncommon on the shore. In some 
operations this sand may perhaps be used as a substitute for 
emery. 

Magnetic iron sand is found in small quantities along the 
whole coast of Long Island where the surf beats on the shore. 
It is so abundant in some localities after storms, that perhaps 
it may be collected for blotting sand and for iron ore. Layers 
of it, two or three inches thick, were seen in many places. 

Garnet and iron sands both occur more abundantly after 
storms ; and the reason is, that the surf, as it rolls upon the 
beach, carries the various kinds of sand along with it, and dur- 
inof the reflux of the wave the water washes back the liirhter 
grains, leaving the heavy sands behind. Each wave repeats 
this process, and the garnet and iron sands thus accumulate in 
layers. The same principle is applied in the artificial separa- 
tion of metals and ores from sand and pulverized rocks in 
metallurgic operations. 

Salt marshes arc very extensive on the coast of Long Island, 
and they are of much value for meadow lands. These alluvions 
result from a combination of several causes. The first step in 
their formation is, the deposite of a sand or a shingle beach, by 
marine currents sweeping along detrital matter, and depositing 
it in the eddy currents in front of shallow bays and re-enter- 
ings of the coast, so as to shelter these spaces from the action 
of the surf if they were before exposed to it ; they are also 
made shallower by the sand and silt carried in by the tide, 
the deposites from the surface waters of the adjacent country, 
and by sand drifted from the beach. Not only marine animals 
and plants, by their growth and decay, add new matter to the 
gradually shoaling pond or bay ; but the accumulation of drifted 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 31 

sea-weed, trees, &,c., serve to increase the alluvion at every 
successive storm. These various causes combined, gradually 
shoal the water with alluvial depositions, until marsh grass 
finally takes root upon the surface. In the formation of these 
marine alluvions, vegetable remains far exceed the other mate- 
rials in volume, so that an imperfect marine peat results. The 
marine peat observed in most localities is of inferior quality : 
it is light and spongy, containing undecomposed vegetable 
matter. 

Sand-stones, conglomerates and brown iron ore, are conti- 
nually forming, in small quantities, in several localities, by the 
action of mineral springs, and by the decomposition of pyrites. 
At Broad Meadow Point, called also Iron Point, two or three 
miles east of Riverhead in Suffolk County, this recent sand- 
stone may be seen, at low water, in thick, solid masses. It may 
also be seen in the sand cliffs between Roanoke Point and 
Mattituck Inlet. 

Nodular masses of iron pyrites are not uncommon in the 
pebble beds of Suffolk County, and by their decomposition, 
form brown oxide of iron or haematite, enveloping the adjacent 
substances which serve as nuclei. When nodules of clay, or 
decomposable stones are thus enveloped, geodes of brown hae- 
metite are the result. These are abundant at tlie high cliff on 
the northeast side of Lloyd's Neck, in Huntington. Where 
these geodes are numerous, a kind of ferruginous conglomerate 
is formed o^gravel, pebbles, and geodes. At the above locality, 
the geodes and conglomerate were confined to a stratum of 
only a few inches in thickness. Two geodes were found filled 
with water. 

The erratic blocks of Suffolk County are of some importance, 
as they furnish the only rocks for building and wall stones. 

There is one circumstance comiected with these boulders 
which we will mention, on account of the bearing it has upon 
some questions in the scientific part of geology. We will state 
only general facts, without entering at this time into the minute 
details, or the conclusions to be drawn from them. The boul- 
ders and blocks vary in size from a pebble to masses weighing 
several hundred tons, and are mostly found on the range pf 



32 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

hills running through the island, and between them and the 
north shore. The boulders and blocks are contained in a stra- 
tum which is inter-stratified with deposites of sand, clay and 
gravel, and is often exposed along the coast. Some of the 
blocks, when first disinterred, exhibit scratches upon one or 
more of their sides. Rocks, like those occurring on Long Island, 
are found in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and along the Hudson 
river; and they are so similar in their mineralogical characters 
and associations, as to lead to the conclusion that they were 
originally derived from those places. Again, as we progress 
westward from Montauk Point to Brooklyn, along the north 
shore, there is a regular succession of the groups of boulders, 
pebbles and gravel, corresponding to the successive changes in 
the rocks on the north side of the Sound. For example, the 
boulders on the east end of Long Island are like tlie granite, 
gneiss, mica slate, green-stone, and sienite of Khode Island and 
the east part of Connecticut ; further westward^ opposite New 
London and the mouth of Connecticut river, are boulders like 
the New London and Connecticut river granites, gneiss and 
hornblende rock ; opposite New Haven are found the red sand- 
stone and conglomerate, fissile and micaceous red sandstone, 
trap conglomerate, compact trap, amygdaloid and verd antique ; 
opposite Black Rock are the granites, gneiss, hornblende, quartz 
and white limestone, like those in Fairfield County ) and from 
Huntington to Brooklyn, the trap (compact, crystalline, (fcc.) 
red sandstone, gneiss, granite, hornblende rock, seipentine and 
crystalline limestone, are found identical in appearance with 
those of the country between New Jersey and Connecticut. 

The clays of Suffolk County are so abundant and varied in 
their character, as to be adapted to various useful purposes. 
The beds are extensively wrought in some places, and the clays 
are mostly used for the manufacture of bricks ; from four to 
five millions of which are annually made at West Neck in the 
town of Huntington alone. 

White clays, which have the external characters of potter's 
clay, occur on West Neck, Lloyd's Neck, Eaton's Neck, East 
Neck, and Little Neck. 

Brown clays, suitable for stone ware, and others for coarse 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLANt). 33 

pottery, abound in many places in the west part of the county. 
Both the white and brown clays are carried to distant parts for 
these manufactures. Some of the clays have the external ap- 
pearance of good fire clays, but actual experiment only can de- 
termine their fitness for this use. These clays contain no 
lime, and therefore are far less likely to melt in the fire than 
ordinary clays. 

Some of the clay beds on West Neck and Lloyd's Neck are 
ochreous, and perhaps they may be profitably used in the ma^ 
nufacture of yellow ochre. 

Fossil wood, or lignite, has been found in several places in 
the clays, and in their associated beds of sand and gravel, but 
in no instance in sufficient quantity for fuel. Sometimes it 
appears like charcoal, in others it is changed to iron ore, either 
hematite or pyrites. It was seen on Lloyd's Neck, Eaton's 
Neck, East Neck, Little Neck, and Mount Misery ; and has been 
found in many places from 20 to 100 feet below the soil. 

Peat, although not very abundant in Q,ueen's, King's, and 
Richmond Counties, is very common. Many localities were 
observed. Those of the most importance are near Newtown. 
From a bog one mile westerly from Newtown, peat of a very 
superior quality has been dug for more than fifty years, and it 
is much used by some of the inhabitants. An extensive marsh 
of peat, which is probably deep and of fine quality, lies near 
the road from Williamsburgh to Jamaica, and is called the Ce- 
dar Swamp. 

There may be about 30,000 cords of peat in this swamp. 
Small bodies of this combustible were seen in the ranges of hills 
in King's and Richmond counties. A meadow of two or three 
acres of ligneous peat was observed about one mile north of Ja- 
maica. The owners of quagmires or quaking meadows will do 
well to examine them. Before many years shall have elapsed, 
these bogs will become valuable, where they are now regarded 
as nearly worthless. The inferior qualities of peat will, under 
judicious treatment in compost heaps, make a valuable manure. 

The principal marshes of Long Island are, Nepeague Marsh ; 
one between Sagg Pond and Mecock Bay, east part of. Shinne- 
cock Bay ; between Moriches and Great West Bay ; between 

5 



34 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Ocombamnck Neck and Fire-Place ; between Ocombamack Neck 
and Patchogue ; Patchogue and Nicolls's Neck ; and the very 
extensive one from Nicolls's Neck to Rockaway : and those about 
Jamaica Bay and Coney Island. 

There are also many on the north shore of Long Island, the 
principal of which are at Acabonnick, Oyster Ponds, Riverhead, 
Wading River, Smith town Harbor, Crab Meadow, Lloyd's Neck, 
Oyster Bay Harbor ; between Peacock and Oak Neck, Musquito 
Cove, north part of Cow Neck, Little Neck Bay, Flushing, Wil- 
liamsburgh, Brooklyn, and Gowannus. 

Tiie salt marshes of Sutlblk County are estimated to cover 
an area of 55 square miles; of Queen's County, 40 square miles ; 
King's, 12 square miles ; and Richmond 9 square miles ; mak- 
ing an aggregate of 116 square miles, or 74,246 acres, of marsh 
alluvion of tire south coast of New- York, exclusive of the exten- 
sive marshes on the south coast of Westchester County, wliich 
would probably swell the aggregate to 125 square miles, or 
80,000 acres. 

The headlands, generally, on the north shore of Queen's 
County are washing away. The blocks of rock, which were 
once imbedded in the loose soil of the island, are seen on the 
beach extending out far beyond low-water mark. 

At Oak Neck, Fox Island, and Martinecock, as well as at 
Middle Island (commonly called Hog Island), the boulders ex- 
tend far out at low water, and demonstrate the encroachment 
of the sea on the land. Middle Island and Oak Neck are parts 
of a peninsvila which lies between Oyster Bay and Long Island 
Sound. They were once islands, but have been connected 
with each otfier, and with Long Island, by beaches formed of 
detrital matter swept from the headlands of Middle Island and 
Oak Neck. Extensive salt marshes are forming under the pro- 
tection of these beaches, and are materially increased by the 
sand drifted from them. These beaches are observed to vary 
in form and magnitude, being sometimes increased or diminish- 
ed in particular by the effects of a single storm. Fox Island 
(so called) was once an island, but is now connected with Oak 
Neck and Long Island on the east by a long beach. A long 
sand-spit, of a mile and a half in length, extends to near Pea- 



OEOLOQY OP LONG ISLAND. 35' 

cock's, where it is cut off by an iiilet, which communicates with 
the extensive marsh between Fox Island and Long Island. 
This beach and spit are derived from the materials washed from 
Fox Island and Oak Neck. Peacock's Point is also washing 
away. Stumps and logs of wood are seen below low-water 
mark. Martinecock Point, a mile or more west of Peacock's, 
must have washed away rapidly. A long point of boulders and 
blocks stretches far out into the Sound at ebb tide. This was 
once an island, which is also connected with Peacock's by a 
long sand beach. Another ancient island, now connected with 
Long Island on the south-west by a beach, is very near Martine- 
cock on the west. These two islands and beaches enclose a 
large pond, the inlet of which is through a mill sluice between 
them. Mr Jacob Latting, who is an old and respectable inha- 
bitant, and has been a resident in the vicinity more than half a 
century, informed us that these have been worn away many 
rods wiihin his recollection. Mr. Latting pointed out to us the 
position of the beach between Peacock's and Fox Island during 
the revolution. The beach then dammed up the outlet of a 
mar><h, through which a small stream ran, and a trunk was put 
in the beach in 1778, to allow the water to drain through, in 
order to prevent flooding the meadows. We saw the trunk in its 
original position. The beach has since made out about 200 
yards in front of where it was at that time. He observed that 
these beaches are subject to considerable variations by storms, 
the materials being tumbled along either eastward or westward, 
according to the direction of the wind. 

Sands's Point, on which a light-house has been long built, was 
washing away so rapidly some years since, that it became ne- 
cessary to protect it by building a strong sea-wall along the 
shore. A reef of rocks, (the remains of ancient lands,) extends 
out some distance from the shore. The wall has afforded a 
protection against the encroachment of the sea, and about an 
acre of land has been added to that belonging to the United 
States, in consequence of the alluvial action of the surf deposit- 
ing the sand and shingle in the eddy on the south side of the 
point. Mr. Mason, the keeper of the light-house, communicat- 
ed these facts, and many others of much interest. The broad 



36 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

and extensive sand beach south of Sands's Point, a mile or more 
in length, was, since his remembrance, a salt marsh covered 
with grass. Mr. Mason is nearly 8(3 years of age. The mate- 
rials swept from Sands's Point, and deposited on the edge of the 
marsh, have been drifted and washed over its surface. 

At and near Kidd's Rock, three quarters of a mile eastward 
of Sands's Point, the wasting of the cliffs from the effects of the 
waves is very evident. The cliffs present mnral escarpments 
towards the Sound, but the hills slope down gradually on the 
other side towards the salt marsh. This elevated land was for- 
merly an island, but alluvial causes have formed a salt marsh 
where the water was sheltered from the sea. The wasting of 
the cliffs has caused the formation of long beaches — one connect- 
ing Kidd's Point with Sands's Point, and the other connecting 
with the high grounds south-east of the marsh on the west side 
of Hempstead Harbor. A small inlet through the north end of 
this beach allows the tide to communicate with the marsh. Boul- 
ders and blocks are seen imbedded in the strata forming the 
mural escarpments, and the shore below is also strewed with 
them. They also extend some distance from the coast, indica- 
ting that a considerable breadth of land has been washed away. 
The boulders protect the shore for a time, but the smaller ones 
and the shingle are gradually ground up by the action of the 
surf, and washed away ; and during storms and high tides, fresh 
inroads are made. The beach between Kidd's Point and Sands's 
Point covers a part of the marsh, the ooze and marine peat of 
which may be seen at the foot of the beach at ebb tide. This 
indicates that high land, or else a beach, was once farther sea- 
ward, to afford protection for the formation of that part of the 
marsh. Only a few acres of high land remain at Kidd's Point, 
and if it should continue to be washed away as heretofore, (and 
much expense would be necessary to prevent it,) a century or 
two would be sufficient to effect its entire removal. Kidd's 
Rock as it is called, is a remarkable erratic block, which was 
imbedded in the loam of the tertiary formation. It has been 
undermined by the action of the sea, and has slid down to 
the shore, and cracked into many large fragments. These 
fragments probably weigh at least 2,000 tons j and several 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 87 

sloop loads of it have been shipped to New-York for building- 
stone. 

A sand-spit has formed nearly across Hempstead Harbor, 
about three miles south of the mouth of the bay, and two miles 
north of the village of Montrose, at the head of the bay. It 
extends from the west shore, in an easterly direction, nearly 
across the harbor, leaving a deep inlet of one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty yards wide next to the eastern shore. It is 
owing to the same cause eis the spit at Cold Spring. This spit 
is probably a thousand yards in length, but is not materially 
affected by storms. The detrital matter, now swept coastwise, 
is carried through the inlet and deposited in the inner harbor. 
Two large shoals have thus been formed, and it is said they 
are evidently becoming shallower every year, and at no distant 
time will form a considerable addition to the land. A small 
spit extends from the eastern shore a short distance north of 
the east end of the large one. Another spit, which extends 
on the west side of the bay, from the high bank on the west 
side of the harbor towards Kidd's Point, is separated from 
this point only by an inlet of thirty or forty yards, through 
which the tide flows into the marsh behind Kidd's Island. 
It is formed from the detrital matter both of this bank and 
of Kidd's Point. 

A spit of some hundred yards in length extends from the 
north, partly across the mouth of Plandome Bay. It is derived 
from the detritus of some high banks in the bay, and Barker's 
Point on the north. 

The beaches and spits we have been considering are trifling 
in extent and importance when compared with the Great South 
Beach of Long Island. This is a line of alluvial sand and 
shingle, extending from Nepeague, in East Hampton, to the 
mouth of New- York Bay, a distance of 104 miles ; and having 
a direction of about west-south-west. It is not continuous, but is 
divided by inlets communicating with the bays which are 
situated between this and Long Island, and through these 
inlets the tide ebbs and flows. At duogue, and several places 
east of this. Long Island communicates with the beach, either 
by marshes or by the upland; but westward, for about seventy 



38 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

miles, a continuous line of bays, from half a mile to six miles 
broad, extends uninterruptedly, and separates the beach entire- 
ly from Long Island. This Great Beach is a line of spits and 
islands. One of the islands is about twenty-five miles long, with 
a breadth of a few hundred yards. They are all narrow and 
long ; and when above the reach of the surf, they are covered 
by a labyrinth of hillocks of drifted sand, imitating almost all 
the variety of form which snow-drifts present after a storm. 

Rockaway Neck is the only locality west of Southampton 
where the upland of Long Island approaches near the alluvial 
beach. The land through this distance is increasing in area 
by constant depositions. The beach at Far Rockaway, and 
for many miles east and west, is undergoing frequent local 
changes. The surf frequently washes away several rods in 
width during a single storm, and perhaps the next storm adds 
more than had been removed by the preceding. The sea fre- 
quently makes inlets through the beach to the bays and marshes, 
and as frequently fills up others. 

The inlet at Rockaway Bay, called Hog Island Inlet, is con- 
tinually progressing westward by the oblique action of the surf 
driving the sand, gravel, and shingle in that direction. The de- 
posite of these materials on the west end of the island beach tends 
to obstruct the inlet to the bay ; but the strong tidal current dur- 
ing the flow and ebb of the tide washes away the east end of 
Rockaway Beach as rapidly as the other forms. The inlet is 
thus kept open. Mr. Edmund Hicks, of Far Rockaway, has 
been long a resident here, and to him we are indebted for the 
fact just mentioned. He knows Hog Island Inlet to have pro- 
gressed more than a mile to the west within fifty years. 

New Inlet is the main inlet from the ocean to the Great 
South Bay. It was formed during a storm not many years 



ago. 



Crow Inlet and Jones's Inlet are undergoing changes analo- 
afous to that of Hoa: Island Inlet. 

Barren and Coney Islands are a part of the Great South 
Beach of Long Island. 

Coney Island has already been referred to as washing away 
by the waves and marine currents. It is alluvial, with the ex- 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 39 

ception of a very small tract of tertiary, and is separated from 
Long Island' by a small creek which winds through the salt 
marsh. Mr. WyckofF, who has lived for many years on the 
island, remembers when this was a broad inlet ; but it has been 
gradually filled up with silt, organic alluvions, and drift sand, 
until it is reduced to its present size. 

The south part of Coney Island is a labyrinth of sand dunes, 
formed by the wind, which present almost every imaginable 
shape that such material can assume. These hillocks are from 
5 to 3(J feet hig^h, with a few straggling tufts of beach-grass, 
and clumps of bushes half buried in the drifted sands. They 
owe their origin to a tuft of gras5, a bush, or a drift log, serving 
as a nucleus. As the grass grows, the drifted sand settles 
among its leaves and partly buries it, and the process is renewed 
for years until a sand hill is formed. On the contrary, when 
there is nothing to bind the sand together or shelter it from the 
wind, it drifts away, leaving deep hollows. Drifted snow banks 
afford an apt illustration of the sand dunes of the south beach 
of Lons;- Island, and in a hig^h wind we can realize, in a small 
degree, the sand storms of the African and Arabian deserts. 

The encroachments of the sea upon the east end of Long 
Island have before been mentioned. Vast masses of the cliffs of 
loam, sand, gravel, and loose rocks, of which Long Island is com- 
posed, are undermined and washed away by every storm. The 
water of the ocean coast is almost always found to have more 
or less earthy matter in suspension, much of which, except 
during storms, is derived from the grinding up of the pebbles, 
gravel, and sand by the action of the surf. It is estimated by 
Mr. Mather that at least one thousand tons of matter is thus 
transported daily from the coast of Long Island, and that pro- 
bably that quantity, on an average, is daily removed from the 
south coast between Montauk and Nepeague Beach. This 
shore, of fifteen miles in lengih, probably averages sixty feet in 
height, and is rapidly washing away; and nearly one half the 
matter coming from the degradation of the land is supposed to 
be swept coastwise in a westerly direction. 

There are many evidences that the east end of Long Island 
was once much larger than at present, and it is thought proba- 



40 



HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 



ble it may have been connected with Block Island, which lies 
in the direction of the prolongation of the island. But if these 
evidences were insufficient, the present rapid degradation of the 
coast in that vicinity, the constant transportation of matter 
westward upon the Great Beach, and the extent of this beach 
(more than one hundred miles long, with a breadth of one 
hundred to one thousand yards,) which is the result of this 
action, would, by most minds, be deemed conclusive. 

The masses forming the erratic block group, and terrain de 
transport, are composed of blocks, boulders, pebbles, gravel, 
sand, loam, and clay, which are formed of the broken-up rocks 
reduced to various degrees of fineness, and transported a dis- 
tance from their original situation. 

The erratic blocks of Suffolk County, and the facts relative 
to their general distribution, were before alluded to. These 
blocks are the only wall stones and building stones on Long 
Island and the contiguous islands, with the exception of a 
small tract of gneiss in places near Hurlgate. The boulders and 
erratic blocks are found on the surface, and imbedded in a se- 
ries of strata forming the range of hills which extend through 
Staten, Long, Plum, and Fisher's Islands. The boulders on 
Long Island are rarely found south of the hills, but on the 
north they are observed, both imbedded and on the surface, ex- 
tending to the north shore. The varieties of rock forming the 
boulders in Suffolk County were mentioned before as being 
exactly similar, in all their characters, to rocks of granite, 
gneiss, mica, slate, hornblendic rocks, scienite, greenstone, 
serpentine rocks, verd antique, red and gray sandstones, (fcc. 
which occur in place in a northward direction from the lo- 
calities where they are now found. It has also been observed 
that the general direction of these boulders form beds of simi- 
lar rock in place, does not coincide with the line of bearing of 
the strata, or the direction of the hills. In Q,ueen's and King's 
Counties the same general facts are observed. Granitic and 
gneissoid rocks predominate on the hills and shore from Oyster 
Bay to Little Neck Bay ; and thence to Brooklyn, greenstone 
rocks are most abundant. The various rocks occurring on 
Long Island as erratic blocks, are much used for fences, wall- 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 41 

stones in wells, cellars, and basements of building's. They are 
nearly indestructible by atmospheric agents, and will therefore be 
very durable. The sea-wall at Sands's Point is built of frag- 
ments of the boulders found in the immediate vicinity. 

Some of the erratic blocks are of great magnitude. Hun- 
dreds of them have been seen that would weigh 50 tons each. 
Kidd's Rock has already been mentioned as a large erratic 
block, the fragments of which cover an area of 10 to 15 square 
rods, and weigh at least 2,000 tons. A large block was seen, 
half a mile to a mile south-south-east from the churches in Plan- 
dome, called Millstone Rock, and from an observation of its cubic 
contents, it was estimated to v/eigh 1,800 tons. 

Some blocks of limestone, weighing from one to five tons 
each, were seen on the beach at Kidd's Island, half a mile from 
Sands's Point, which are precisely similar in mineralogical cha- 
racters to the rano:e of limestone extendinof from Barneofat to 
Pine Plains in Dutchess County. 

Adjacent to these, were blocks of tremolite, of a yellowish 
grey color, and a species of grey amphibole, nearly like the 
Edeaite of Orange County. On the north shore of Oak Neck, 
masses of granite, containing yellow feldspar, were observed. 
We have never seen granite in place similar to this. Red sand- 
stone, and a few boulders of greenstone, also occur here. 

A boulder weighinjr three or four tons, of dark green serpen- 
tine, containing- radiated anthrophyllite, was found half a mile 
south-west of the head of Little Neck Bay. A large boulder of 
gray tremolite was found on the east shore of Cow Bay, in 
Plandomo. Boulders of steatite and of talcose rock, containing 
anthrophyllite, were seen near the head of Little Neck Bay. 
Boulders of green, black, and sandy green serpentine, like those 
of Hoboken and York Island, are found at Brooklyn, Williams- 
burgh, and Jamaica. Boulders of a peculiar rock, composed of 
the materials of granite, with the feldspar in a state of decompo- 
sition, are found at Flushing, Williambnrgh, Brooklyn, and on 
Staten Island. Boulders of granular white limestone, sometimes 
containing tremolite, occur at Hog Island, Lloyd's Neck, Oak 
Neck, Sands's Point, Hewlet's Point, Flushing, and AVilliams- 
burgh. They are similar to the limestones of Westchester 

G 



42 



HISTORY Of LONG ISLAND. 



County. Near Fort Hamilton, serpentine, greenstone, and red 
sandstone, with some g-ranitc and gneiss, like those of York Is- 
land, form the mass of boulders. 

Clays are not very abundant in Queen's, King's, and Rich- 
mond Counties. White and bine clays, like those of West 
Neck, Lloyd's Neck, Eaton's Neck, &c. are found on Middle 
Island and the eastern shore of Hempstead Harbor ; but they 
are so near the water level, where they were seen, that there 
is little probability of their being extensively useful. The 
white clay on tlie western side of Middle Island is very pure, 
lying in view at high-water mark, and perhaps extending high- 
er in the bank, but covered with sand which has slidden from 
above. Reddish loamy clay was seen in the deep excavation 
of the streets through the hill between Brooklyn and Gowan- 
nus. An' imperfect sandy brick earth occurs on the hills about 
one mile north of Jamaica. At this p^ace from 300,000 to 
350,000 bricks are made per annum. iH^ 

On Hempstead Plains the wells are du'g'lrom 60 to 120 feet 
deep, through beds of gravel and sand, before water is reach- 
ed, which is a little above the level of the ocean. The wells gra- 
dually decrease in depth thence to the shore. 

The springs of Long Island are numerous, and present some 
phenomena worthy of consid(Jl:.*tion. Around the heads of the 
bays and re-enterings of the coast along the north shore of 
Long Island, copious springs break out very little above tide 
water level. In some instances they boil up through the sand 
and gravel so as to form a brook at once ; in others, several 
springs break out at the foot of the bank, and, uniting their wa- 
ters, form a stream. The numerous mills and manufactories 
on the shores of many of the re-enterings of the northern coast 
of Long Island, and wliich have no apparent streams commu- 
nicating with their ponds to renew the supply of water, attract 
the attention of most observers. The water of these springs is 
very pure, in consequence of its having been filtered through 
beds of nearly pure siliceous sand and gravel. It is thrown out 
at the level of tide water, or at a higher level, where there are 
strata impermeable to it. Some of the most remarkable of these 
springs, which are applied to manufacturing purposes, are about 



GEOLOGY OP LONG ISLAND. 43 

Hempstead Harbor, at the head of Little Neck Bay, at the head 
of Cold Spring Harbor, and the south-west part of Oyster Bay- 
Harbor. 

In most parts of Long Island, water is not found in quantity, 
and is not permanent, except at about the level of the ocean, in 
consequence of the porous nature of the strata. 

The soils of these counties are very variable, but at least 
four-fifths of the surface may be characterized by the terms 
sandy loam and loamy sand. There are many tracts of land 
where the soil is a heavy loam, and even a stiff clay ; and others 
3f a pure sand, which drifts, and is piled by the action of the wind. 
The variation of the soil is due to the different strata which 
form the country. Beds of sand and gravel are interstratified 
with those of loam and clay ; and where irregularities occur 
in the contour of the ground, arising from denudation, a field of 
a few acres may exhibit almost every variety of soil, from a 
pure sand to a stiff clay. The art of the farmer is here put in 
requisition to modify the natural texture of the soils, and fit them 
to receive nutritive and stimulant manures with the greatest ad- 
vantage. The heavy soils are dressed with sand, and the light 
soils with loam or clay, with a view to transform the whole in- 
to a loam of such texture as to make a pulverulent soil, and yet 
have it sufficiently argillaceous to retain a suitable quantity of 
water. The cultivated soils within twenty miles of New- York 
are so much modified by art, that their natural qualities could 
scarcely be determined without geological investigation. Many 
of the farmers expend from $50 to $70 per acre for street manure 
once in two or three years, and they are well repaid for their 
enlightened views and liberal expenditures. The soil is na- 
turally very poor on the plains, but those parts which are well 
cultivated have become very productive. Street manure, yard 
manure, composts mixed with lime, rotted sea-weed, on which 
hogs and cattle are yarded, ashes, barilla, bone manure, and 
fish, are those in common use. Street manure probably ex- 
ceeds all the others in quantity, and the bays and inlets on the 
'oast, together with the Long Island rail-road, offer great fa- 
cilities for its transport into the interior of the island. The 
marsh mud, and " muck " of the meadow, and the estuary mud, 



44 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



would make a valuable mauure on the lioht soils. Lime an- 
swers well on the liufht soils of LonGf Island, and the farmers 
will find it. to their advantage in using it on their lands, first 
pirtting it in heaps to slacken thoroughly, and spread with other 
manure upon the soil. On a considerable portion of Long Is- 
land the bony fish, called hard-heads or moss-bonkers, have 
become tlie principal article for fertilizing; the soil ; and the crops 
therel)y produced are so abundant as to be almost matter of 
astonishment. 

These fish weigh from one to two pounds each, and are 
either spread directly upon the land, or mixed with other sub- 
stances to decompose. In some instances, at Southold, two or 
three hundred thousand, and it is even said that a million, have 
been caught at a time ; and there are, probably, more than one 
hundred million used annually upon this island. The sandy 
land in Suffolk County could hardly be cultivated to advantage 
without the aid derived from these fish. 

Ivlr. Mather is of opinion that they are not used by the far- 
mers of Long Island in the most economical manner. From 
five thousand to fifteen thousand, he says, are spread over the 
ground, instead of being ploughed in. The soil is generally light, 
and the animal matter passes through it by the filtering action 
of v^^ater, so that its fertilizing effects are nearly exhausted by 
a single crop. 

The object in using ashes, is, to keep the dry arid soils 
moist by the attraction of the potassa for water, and thus afford 
moisture, and a stimulating; alkali to the growing plants. A 
greatierror in their use is to let them remain in heaps long ex- 
posed to the weather, an idea prevailing that ashes are improved 
by this means, and that if they were used in their raw state, 
would injure the crops. The fact is, that when used fresh, too 
m:i»ny are used ; as they contain a large proportion of potassa, 
and prove a too powerful stimulant to vegetation; but when 
exposed to the weather, the potassa deliquates by its attraction 
for moisture, and is removed by rains, leaving little except the 
inert earthy matter. 

Silt,, or creek mud, has been used vvith considerable advan- 
tage invsome parts of Brookhaven ; it is generally obtained from 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 45 

tliG bottom of bays, where there is very little action of the tide, 
and where the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter 
has been long accumulating. The long eel grass is pulled up 
with iron rakes, which bring up the decomposed matter with it. 

On the subject of the Geology of Long Island, Dr. Mitchill 
has some remarks which are too valuable and interesting to be 
passed over. His examinations were principally confined to the 
north shore of the island, and to the islands in the East River. 

" The Brothers," he observes, " are two small islands, lying 
upon the side of the ship channel in the East River, and called 
the North and South Brother. Their foundation is rocky, and 
has hitherto resisted the impetuosity of the waves and currents 
by reason of its hard structure. Both these, and the detached 
rocks and reefs around them, differ in no respect from the ge- 
neral character of the others." 

Riker's Island lies in the middle of the Sound, nearly oppo- 
site the mouth of Flushing Bay ; the banks of considerable 
height, but by no means so rocky as the last-mentioned. There 
is, however, a conspicuous mass of granite upon it, and several 
smaller rocks scattered about. From the loose and gravelly 
material of which it consists, its sides are gradually crumbling 
down and washing away, notwithstanding it is thickly spread 
with rocks and stones, the remains of former washinp-s and 
encroachments of the water. Of Long Island, the Doctor ob- 
serves, that the face of the country upon the north and south 
sides are very diiferent from each other. On the north it is 
elevated, uneven, and much variegated with hill and dale; 
while on the south the traveller discovers little else than a flat 
surface, sloping gradually toward the ocean. Indeed, that part 
north of the ridge not only resembles the opposite shores of the 
main land in its general appearance, but also in its fossils and 
mineral productions. ] t appears to have been separated from 
the continent during the lapse of ages, by the encroachments 
of the salt water. The occurrence of no horizontal strata, and 
the frequency of vertical layers, lead to the conclusion that 
they are certainly in a state of primeval arrangement. The 
probable opinion, (says Dr. Mitchill,) is, that Long Island and 
the adjacent continent were once contiguous, or only separated 



46 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

by a small river ; and that the strait which now divides them, 
was formed by successive inroads of the sea. This appears 
likely from the fossil bodies on both shores having a near re- 
semblance ; from the rocks and islands lying between them 
being found of similar materials ; the distance being small ; and 
that where the shore is not composed of solid rocks, there the 
water continues to make great encroachments, and to cause 
the high banks to tumble down, as may be seen in many places 
upon the north shore of the island, and as is more particularly 
the fact at Newtown, at Montauk and elsewhere, at this day. 

To the eastward of Hellgate all the considerable rocks are 
solitary masses of granite. These are scattered over the upland 
and alonor the shore between hiffh and low water. In the town 
of North Hempstead, not far from Manhasset, is one of the largest 
rocks of the kind. It is known in the records of the town by 
the name of Millstone Rock, and contains more than twenty 
thousand cubic feet. The appearance of the island on the south 
side of the hills induces the belief that the whole extent of level 
land between them and the sea is a dereliction of the waters. 
Its horizontal strata, its sandy and gravelly quality, and the 
rounded and water-worn surfaces of itsquartzy pebbles, all lead 
to such a persuasion. 

The land, besides, is very bare of vegetable mould, as well as 
rocks, and the timber generally of a smaller growth. The 
shells of marine animals are more frequently met with in dig- 
ging wells ; though it is said, that towards the west end of the 
island the remains of testacious creatures have been found at 
considerable depths on the north side of the ridge. Between 
Long Island and the continent there are several shoals, 
with rocks scattered over them, which are apparently sunken 
or wasted islands ; and shows the extraordinary levelling power 
of the waves. One of these shallow places, whose rocks are 
bare at low water, lies off the extremity of Cow Neck, and oc- 
cupies several acres almost in the middle of the Sound. From 
the injuries thereby sustained by vessels, they are called the 
" ExeciitionersP Another sandy spot, of many acres, with se- 
veral large rocks appearing here and there above the little wa- 
ter that covers it, stretches far toward the main channel from 



GEOLOGY OP LONG ISLAND. 47 

the bottom of Great Neck. These rocks are called " The Step- 
])i?ig /Stoties" from a tradition of the Indians, that at some for- 
mer distant period their ancestors could cross over here to the 
main. At Oldfield Point, Crane Neck, and Mount Misery, the 
land has been frittered away for a considerable extent, leavino- 
a considerable area covered with rocks, visible at low water. 
Some facts remain to be mentioned to explain the rapid cur- 
rents and dangerous navigation of Hellgate. This is a strait, one 
of whose sides is formed by Long Island and the other by Par- 
sell's and Manhattan Islands. Between the two latter, Harlaem 
Creek empties itself There is a small quantity of solid granite 
here, and the shores and intervening rocks and reefs almost en- 
tirely consist of it. Such a compact body impedes, on the Long 
Island side of it, the direct flow of the water of the Sound in a 
north-east and south-westdirection so completely, that the current 
is forced to take a short and sudden turn around the point of Par- 
sell's Island. This change of direction is nearly at a right an- 
gle with the ridges and strata of rocks which formerly connect- 
ed the two islands ; and such has been its impetuous and irre- 
sistible force, that the dams of solid rock, which nature had con- 
structed across, have been broken down and carried away, and 
nothing but their ruins are now perceptible. The foaming and 
agitation of the water over and among these rocks has given 
rise to the whimsical appellations of Pot, Frying-Pan, Grid- 
Iron, &c. The Hog's-Back, Hallet's Point Reef, the Mill- 
Rock, the Middle Reef, and the ^outh Rocks, are plain and 
instructive monuments of the ancient arrangement. They are 
portions of strata remaining after all the rest has been swept 
away by the force of the current. On the shallows and flats of 
the South Bay, where there is little current except the swell and 
recession of the tides, certain vegetables delight to grow. The 
sand and mud, which had before been moveable, now becomes 
fixed. This process continues until the new island rises above 
common tide, and receives no more nutriment from the water. 
These are the islands and marshes of great extent, scattered al- 
most the whole length of Long Island, and are of great value for 
the sedge which grows upon them. Hog Island in Hempstead 
Bay, and Coney Island, have been thus formed. 



48 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

It is a universally conceded fact, that so much of Long Island 
as lies southerly of the ridge of hills, is of secondary formation ; 
while it has been concluded that the remainder is of primeval 
construction. Yet there are many facts and circumstances 
which, if they do not prove the contrary, are in such hostility 
with it, as to he entirely irreconcilable to the idea that the north 
side of the island has always existed as it now is. Some of 
these facts have been with considerable pains collected, and 
are derived from such sources as to be entitled to our entire 
belief. 

Sand and gravel, mixed with marine shells, are found at 
considerable distances below the surface in digging wells and 
excavating the earth for other purposes. These are found al- 
most universally fifty feet and more below the soil in Brook- 
lyn, New Utrecht, Flatbush, and Newtown. The shell of a 
periwinkle was found forty-three feet down at New Utrecht. 
In Newtown, carbonated wood, sometimes alone and some- 
times incrusted by pyrites, was raised from the bottom of a 
shaft fifty feet deep. In Bushwick, at forty-five feet, the body 
of a tree was found by the workmen lying across the well, and 
had to be cut away to allow them to proceed. Wood has also 
been found at great depths a little east of Westbury meeting- 
house. A well was dug by Messrs. William and John Mott in 
1813, at Great Neck, three miles north of the ridge ; at the 
distance of thirty feet, on the upper surface of a stratum of 
loose dark-red earth, lay shells of clams, oysters, and scollops ; 
at fifty feet a piece of wood was found, soft, rotten, and decayed. 
Its ligneous character was, however, perfectly distinguishable. 
On the land of Mr. Andrew Napier, three miles west of Jamaica 
village, during the same year, several pieces of wood were 
found twenty-five feet below the surface. A well was dug 
some years since near the Narrows at New Utrecht, and shells 
of clams and oysters found at sixty-seven feet ; the shell of the 
large murex [Perkuinkle) was discovered, very little damaged, 
at two hundred and fifty feet. President Dwight, who travelled 
through Long Island in May 1804, mentions, that on the east- 
ern border of Hempstead Plain, some workmen, who were dig- 
ging a well, found a log of wood, three feet long and one in 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 49 

diameter, at the depth of one hundred and eight feet ; the ex- 
terior was decayed near an inch deep, the rest perfectly sound. 
In digging a well in the same neighborhood, a short time after, 
the greater part of a tree was discovered at the depth of one 
hundred feet. A part of the wood, says the Doctor, was put 
upon the fire, and burnt very well. 

In the town of Huntington, about the middle of the island, 
the people, says he, were induced to believe there was a silver 
mine in a particular spot ; with the inquisitive spirit usual in 
such cases, they dug to a considerable depth, and in their pro- 
gress, found a tree, with its branches, buried in solid earth thirty 
feet below the surface : the branches were chiefly decayed. 
At Newtown, a deep pit was sunk in the side of a hill in 1804, 
for the purpose of forming an ice-house. The hill is about 
twenty rods from the shore of the East River at Hallet's Cove, 
and fifty feet above high-water mark. At the depth of twenty 
feet, the workman threw out a great many frogs, lodged in the 
coarse gravel. Their color was not so vivid as common, in 
other respects they resembled the common frog of this country. 
General Ebenezer Stephens, on whose land it was, observed 
them, and, although torpid at first, in a short time they reco- 
vered all the activity of their species. Mr. Henry Demilt, about 
thirty years ago dug a well upon the east side of Cow Neck, 
half a mile from the shore, and at the depth of thirty-four feet 
came to a stratum of creek mud and shells, the stench from 
which was such as induced him to abandon his design. 

The late Mr. William Allen, in digging for water at Man- 
hasset in 1824, found a quantity of oyster shells seventy-eight 
feet below the surface, and obtained water at one hundred and 
two feet. The earth at the bottom of the well being a clean 
white sand like that found upon the beach, intermixed with 
rounded pebbles. 

Selah B. Strong, Esq., of Setauket, L. I., says that his 
grandfather, the late Judge Selah Strong, in digging a well 
near his mansion upon the Neck, where he then resided, 
shortly before the Revolution, found a large tree in a horizon- 
tal position, about forty feet below the soil, and in a good state 
of preservation. 

7 



50 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Anthony Sherman, while diggmg a well in the year 1808, 
for Mr. Roderick Havens, upon Shelter Island, at the depth of 
fifty-seven feet found an Indian stone pestle, beautifully polish- 
ed ; also abundance of clam-shells mixed with beach sand and 
gravel. 

Jeremiah Johnson, Esq. states that a well was dug about 
forty years ago by a Mr. Kolyer, at a place called Clam-Battery, 
in Newtown ; and at the depth of seventy feet discovered a 
quantity of shells, mixed with what resembled shore sand ; 
that Doctor Pater, in digging a well about thirty years since at 
New Utrecht, came, at one hundred and twenty feet below the 
soil, to a stratum of salt meadow resembling that in the neigh- 
borhood. And the same gentleman says, that, while command- 
ing officer at Fort Green during the year 1814, a well was con- 
structed there under his direction, for the use of the garrison, 
and at the depth of seventy feet clam-shells and sand were 
found, which had every appearance of having been at a former 
period washed by the sea. 

Mr. Abraham Van Alst, at Bush wick, some years since, found 
a log of wood, well preserved, at forty feet below the soil ; and 
several others in the same town, who dug wells, were compel- 
led to abandon them on account of the filthy creek mud found 
at the bottom, which rendered the water unfit to be drank. 

Dr. Dwight, in the account of his tour upon Long Island, 
observes as follows : "When we commenced our journey on 
this island, I proposed to my companions to examine, with a 
continual and minute attention, the stones of every size which 
should be visible to us throughout all the parts of our progress. 
This examination was made by us all with great care, and 
was extended to the stones on the general surface ; to those 
washed out in hollow roads ; to those uncovered on the sum- 
mits and sides, and at the bottom of hills ; to those found in 
the deepest vallies, and to those which were dug out of a con- 
siderable number of very deep wells. 

" The result of this examination was, that all the stones which 
we saw, were, without any exception, destitute of angles, limit- 
ed by an arched exterior, appearing as if worn by the long 
continued attrition of water, and in all respects exactly like 



GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND. 51 



/ 



those which in a multitude of places were found on the beach 
of the ocean." 

" In ten or twelve instances, possibly a few more, we ob- 
served small rocks of granite on our road. Every one of these 
exhibited what I thought plain proofs of having been washed 
for a considerable length of time, and strongly resembled rocks 
of the same kind which have been long beaten by waves. I 
will not say that no other traveller would have considered 
these rocks as exceptions ; but to my eye they exhibited mani- 
fest appearances of having been long worn by water. If this 
opinion be admitted, we did not find, in a progress of more than 
two hundred miles, a single stone which did not exhibit proofs 
of having; been washed for a considerable time. 

" On Montauk Point the stones have a different aspect, being 
' angular, and having the common appearance of the granite 
rocks so generally found in New England. 
j " After we had passed Jamaica in our way to New- York, we 
i found a similar change in the stones ; most of them being angn- 
I lar, and presenting no evidence that they had ever been washed. 
, Between these limits the stones are universally aquatic, if I 
1 may be allowed, for the sake of succinctness, to give them that 
* name. 

" From this extraordinary fact, it would seem a natural con- 
clusion that the great body of this island, or perhaps more pro- 
perly the materials of which it is composed, were at some 
former period covered by the ocean ; and that by some cause, 
which cannot now be discovered, were thrown up into their 
present form. 

" That Long Island was once united with the main, towards 
its western end, has been believed by a great multitude of per- 
sons from a bare inspection of the scenery. The narrowness 
and winding of the straits in many places, the multitude of 
intervening rocks and islands, the projection and course of the 
points between .this island and the counties of New- York and 
Westchester, and the general aspect of both shores, have pro- 
duced this opinion in minds which have been formed to very 
different modes of thinking." 
From this train of accumulated facts, and the conclusions to 



52 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

which they necessarily lead the mind of the inquirer, it can 
hardly be denied that the alluvial character of the greater part 
of Long Island is placed beyond the pale of controversy, or 
even a rational doubt, in the opinion of those who have given 
the subject any considerable attention. We have been the 
more particular upon this interesting portion of geology, be- 
cause it constitutes an important part of the natural history of 
Long Island, and is a subject of curiosity as well as utility. 

DISCOVERY OF LONG ISLAND. 

There are some traditions among the Spaniards and Dutch, 
that probably this part of the world had been visited by Euro- • 
peans long before the renowned Hudson sailed up the noble 
and majestic river that bears his name. Others have sup- 
posed that they had discovered sufficient proof, in the western 
part of our state, of its having been occupied at some very re- 
mote era by a race of men further advanced in the arts, and 
particularly in that of defensive warfare, than could be reason- 
ably conceived of those who inhabited the country at the period 
of the discovery by Hudson. 

No traces of a civilized people have ever been discovered 
upon this island, nor any evidence whatever to warrant the 
belief that any than savages ever possessed it, previous to the 
arrival of our European ancestors, in the early part of the se- 
venteenth century. 

We may therefore reasonably infer, in the absence of any 
proof to the contrary, that Hudson and his adventurous crew 
were the first white people that ever set foot upon the shores of 
Long Island. 

In the work entitled, " History of New-York," by Joseph W. 
Moulton, Esq., which exhibits as much industrious research 
and studious accnracy as any historical work can claim, it is 
stated, that when Hudson first arrived within the waters of 
Sandy Hook, he observed them swarming with fish, and sent 
his men to obtain a supply. It may well be that they landed 
upon Coney Island, in the town of Gra-vesend, which was the 
nearest land ; and if so, the Canarsee Indians were the first to 



DISCOVERY OF LONG ISLAND. 53 

hail the approach of the long-to-be-remembered discoverer of 
New- York. 

Two hundred and twenty -nine years ago, being the 3d of 
September, 1609, the chivalric Hudson first saw the shores of 
this island. On the 4th, it is related he sent his men on shore 
in a boat, who, according to the words of his Journal, " caught 
ten great Mullet^ a foot and a half long, and a Ray as great 
as four men could haul into the ship.'^ Here, he says, they 
found the soil of white sand, and a vast number of plumb trees 
loaded with fruit, and many of them covered with grape-vines 
of different kinds. They saw, also, a great quantity of snipe and 
other birds ; and on the morning of the 12th they rode up into 
the moulh of the great river. Judge Benson says the name of 
the river was Sha-te-muck. The natives crowded to the 
shores on beholding so strange a sight as a large ship, and men 
so different in appearance and dress from themselves, and speak- 
ing a language also which it was impossible they could under- 
stand. The emotions which they felt, and the opinions and 
conjectures they must have formed on that most novel and in- 
teresting occasion, may be imagined, but can never be known. 
Such a curious combination of circumstances was well calcu- 
lated to excite fearful apprehensions in the minds of an igno- 
rant and unsophisticated people. 

The natives are described by De Laet as manifesting all 
friendship when Hudson first landed among them. They 
were clothed, he says, in the skins of elks, foxes, and other 
animals. Their canoes were made out of the bodies of trees ; 
their arms, bows and arrows, with sharp points of stone fixed 
to them, and fastened with hard pitch. They had no houses, 
he says, but slept under the blue heavens ; some on mats made 
of brush or bulrushes, and some upon leaves of trees. They 
had good tobacco, and copper tobacco-pipes. After their first 
acquaintance, they frequently visited Hudson's ship. They 
were the deadly enemies of the Manhattans, and a better peo- 
ple than they ; who, says our author, have always conducted 
toward the Dutch in a cruel and inimical manner. 

Heckewelder relates, that from the best accounts he could 
obtain, the Indians who inhabited Long Island were Dela wares, 



54 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

and early known by the name of Matauwakes according to 
De Laet and Professor Ebcling. 

Long Island at this time had various appellations, as Matou- 
wake, Meitowax, Alatanwakc, and Sewanhacky ; the last of 
which means the " hlatul of Shells ;" and this appears to have 
been the most current appellation. It is sometimes called Ma- 
tanwax and Paumanake. Some of this variety are evidently 
but different ways of spelling the same word, and others may 
have been conferred by the neighboring nations, the Manhat- 
tans, the Nehantic or Mohegan tribes. It is the better opinion 
that the land was in most places destitute of timber ; and that 
the population of the tribes had much diminished in conse- 
quence of incessant contests and bloody wars among them, 
which threatened the extermination of the whole race. The 
timely arrival of the white people, and the protection they af- 
forded, may have been the means of saving them from destruc- 
tion by their enemies. 

THE LONG ISLAND INDIANS. 

The origin of the American Indians is one of those curious 
problems in the history of man that has given occasion to much 
ingenious conjecture, and has been a standing subject of specu- 
lation and inquiry among antiquarians and philosophers in 
every age, and among every civilized people, since the discovery 
of the country. Thus for the investigation has not been attend- 
ed by any very satisfactory results ; and from the peculiar intri- 
cacy of the subject itself there is little hope of entire success. 
It seems to have been taken for granted that the race were ori- 
ginally from another country, and both Asia and Europe have 
been assigned as the quarter from which they must have passed 
to America ; that they either came by the way of Behring's 
Straits, or may have been driven by accident or misfortune 
from some distant island, to which their ancestors may have ar- 
rived in the same way. If it be as necessary to account for the 
existence of other animals found here, as for the native Indians, 
a difliculty arises from the sup])osition that many of the tropi- 
cal animals could never have existed for any length of time in 



THE LONCf ISLAND INDIANS. 55 

a region so intensely cold as Behring's Straits ; and if these are 
admitted always to have been here, the argument is equally 
strong in favor of man. If the argument for emigration be of 
any force, it is just as strong in favor of the idea that Asia and 
Europe may have been peopled from America as the contrary. 
The Indians may have been equally indigenous as any other 
class of animals ; and if they were originally planted here by 
the common parent of nature, they must necessarily have been 
endued by the same kind author with capacities and instincts 
graduated to the condition in which they were destined to live, 
and to subserve the great purposes of their creation. 

With the exception of the Esquimaux, it has been conjectured 
that all the American tribes possess the same cardinal distinctions 
and the same physical characteristics: The diflerences which ex- 
isted among various tribes in temperament, stature, or mental pow- 
ers, may in great measure be accounted for upon grounds less 
improbable than the supposition of their having been a different 
order of men. The Indians of Long Island, whatever may have 
previously been their conduct toward one another or to distant 
tribes, were less troublesome to their white neighbors than the 
Indians north of the Sound. Nor does it appear that any formi- 
dable conspiracy ever existed with them to destroy the settlers, 
as was attempted, but too successfully, upon the main. The 
white people, by forming distinct settlements in different parts 
of the island, and separating the tribes, probably prevented any 
such combination being formed, if it were ever intended. The 
white population were distinguished for their prudence and vi- 
gilance ; and the first dawning of hostility would create alarm, 
and the means of defence be instantly resorted to. That diffi- 
culties sometimes occurred with a single tribe, and might have 
been provoked by the improper conduct of the whites them- 
selves, it is reasonable to believe. The story of their griefs, 
or the wrongs they may have endured, can never be known ; and 
they and their sufferings are equally buried in oblivion. Their 
written language, so far as they possessed any, was entirely of a 
symbolical cliaracter ; and both deeds, contracts, and treaties 
were signed by a mark or symbol, — as the figure of a hatchet, 
pipe, bow, arrow, tfcc, each chief having his own appropriate 



56 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

mark. It was not uncommon, upon the death of a sachem leav- 
ing no son, or none but an infant, for the widow to assume and ex- 
ercise most of the functions which her deceased husband had 
done. She was then called the sunk squa, or squa Sachem ; and 
the records of the different towns present examples of deeds being 
executed in such cases by female Sachems. In some instances 
the Sachem nominated a person to act as guardian for his son 
during his minority. Wyandance, the Long Island Sachem, 
appointed Lyon Gardiner, and his son David Gardiner, as 
guardians to his son Wyancombone ; and these persons actually 
affixed their names to conveyances on behalf of their ward. 
This singular appointment appears by the records of Easthamp- 
ton to have been made in 1660, and continued till the young 
Sachem came to the age which would authorise him to act for 
himself Pending the Indian war in New England in 1675, 
(designated asPhilip's War,) which threatened the extermination 
of the white people on the main, it was apprehended by the 
eastern towns on Long Island that the Indians here might 
be induced to unite with those hostile Indians to destroy 
them also ; and thereupon such prudent and precautionary 
measures were adopted as effectually prevented the consequen- 
ces of such an union, if any such was in contemplation. The 
accounts of Philip's wars would be highly entertaining, but for 
the unfeeling barbarities, and cold, calculating horrors of savage 
warfare, which mark every stage of their progress. For, not 
contented with the destruction of cattle, grain, the plunder of 
goods and conflagration of dwellings, they murdered all they 
met without discrimination of age, sex, or condition ; beheading, 
scalping, dismembering, and mangling their wretched and un- 
fortunate victims, in a manner too revolting for recital. 

The Algonquin or Chippeway race of Indians is one of the 
most numerous in existence, and there is little doubt but that 
all the tribes anciently in New-York and New Eno-laiid, were 
of this race, if we may be allowed to consider identity of lan- 
guage as proof of the fact. The vocabulary of the Narragan- 
sett tongue, recorded by Roger Williams, shows them to have 
been of the same stock. The Mohegans were progenitors of 
the other tribes in New England who spoke the same tongue. 



THE LONG ISLAND INDIANS. 57 

So were the tribes in Maine. The Delawares, or Lenni-Lenape, 
were of the same family ; and their language has been pro- 
nounced by competent judges the most perfect Indian dialect 
in existence. The Iroquois, or Six Nations, once dreaded by 
all the other tribes from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, are Al- 
gonquins. This tribe extends from the mouth of the St. Law- 
rence to the Mississippi, and northward to the Great Slave 
Lake. On the western side of the Mississippi is another great 
Indian family, the Sioux. In the south of the United States 
we have four tribes,— the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Cherokees, 
and Creeks ; of the latter the Seminoles are a part, whose 
towns were destroyed by General Jackson, their chiefs slain, 
and those who escaped death, effectually dispersed. The dif- 
ferent and somewhat singular opinions which have existed 
upon this subject are amusing, although few of them are ve- 
ry satisfactory to the antiquary. The Rev. Thomas Thorow- 
good, in 1652, published a quarto volume to prove the American 
(Indians to be the Jews, who had been lost to the world for 
|more than two thousand years. Roger Williams seems to have 
(entertained a similar opinion, as appears by his replies to ques- 
jtions propounded to him by an European correspondent. 
.Cotton Mather, a curious and wonderfully prolific writer of 
the seventeenth century, affirms the same ; and supposes that 
Jhe Devil seduced these Jews from their own country, to get 
them (as he expresses it) out of the way of the "Silver Trmn- 
jpets of the Gospel." Boudinot, in his book entitled « The Star 
in the West," conjectures the Indians of America to be the 
!■' long-lost tribes of Israel ;» and last, though not least, may be 
nentioned our distinguished fellow-citizen, Mordecai M. Noah, 
Esq., who has composed a learned and ingenious dissertation 
;o prove them to have been originally Jews, and a part of the 
ost tribes of his nation. 

It is one of the peculiar traits of Indian character, and one 
^ hich is apparently universal, that while the business of pro 
iuring food is the duty of the men, all other labor, however 
|rduous or degrading, is devolved upon the women. The use 
if the axe and other domestic implements is considered by 
tiese self-created lords as beneath their savage dit^nity • while 

I 



5b HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

to tlie weaker sex it belongs to plant corn, make and mend 
^rments, bnild wigwams, and attend to all the drudgery ot 
rearing children and other family aftairs. Revenge is with 
them a cardinal virtue, and to endure pain with heroic forti- 
tude a equality wortliy of high admiration. In short, to be 
proof ai^ainst sutiering, however exquisite, and to be destitute 
of all sympathy for that of others, is a characteristic of the sa- 
vage in every part of the world. 

WAMPUM AND TRIBUTE. 

The frequent mention of the article wampum, in almost all 
Indian conveyances, contracts, and treaties, and the circum- 
stance of its being a part of the consideration, or price, in most 
Indian deeds in former times, besides its use as a circulating 
medium, as well among tlie natives as the white people at the 
first settlement of the country, rendei-s it not only proper, but 
necessary, to trive some account of so valuable a commodity. 

"Wampum (^t'rom wampi or wompi, signiiying white,) shells, 
or strings of shells, used by the Indians as an ornament of dress, 
and as a badge of distinction among the chiefs, and particularly 
amon? the women. Thev were sometimes worn as a belt or 
girdle. It is sometimes called wampum-peague, wampeague, 
or wompampeage ; of which wampum is a contraction. 

iSeairan, was the name of Indian money, of which there 
were two kinds : iro}n])am, (which signifies white.) and suck- 
auhock^ {sucki signifying black.) "NVompam or wompampeague, 
or simply peague, was, though improperly, also understood 
among the Dutch and English as expressive of the generic 
denomination. "NVompam, or white money, was made of the 
stem or stock of the meteauhock or periwinkle : suckauhock, 
or black money, was manufactured from the inside of the shell 
of the quahaug, {vcniis mercenoria.) a round thick shell-fish, 
that buried itself but a little way in the sand, and was gene- 
rally found lying on it in deep water, and gathered by rakes or 
by diving after it. The Indians broke off about half an inch 
of a purple color of the inside, and converted it into beads. 
These, before the introduction of awls and thread, were bored 
with sharp stones, and strung upon sinews of beasts; and when 



WAMPUM AND TRIBUTE. 59 

interwoven to the breadth of the hand, more or less, were called 
a belt of seawan or wompam. A black bead, the size of a 
straw, about one tbird of an inch long, bored longitudinally 
and well polished, was the gold of the Indians, and always 
esteemed of twice the value of the white ; but either species 
was considered by them of much more value than European 
coin. An Indian chief, to whom the value of a rix-dollar was ex- 
plained by the first clergyman of Renselaerwyck, laughed ex- 
ceedingly to think the Dutch set so high a price upon a piece of 
iron, as he termed it. Three beads of black and six of white 
were equivalent, among the English, to a penny, and among the 
Dutch, to a stuyver. But with the latter, the equivalent number 
sometimes varied from three and six, to four and eight. One of 
Governor Minuit's successors fixed, by placard, the price of the 
"good splendid seawan of Manhattan" at four for a stuyver. 
A string of this money, one fathom long, varied in price from 
five shillings among the New Englanders, (after the Dutch 
gave them a knowledge of it,) to four guilders, (Ijjjl.GGi,) among 
the Dutch. The process of trade was this : the Dutch and 
English sold for seawan, their knives, combs, scissors, needles, 
awls, looking-glasses, hatchets, hoes, guns, black cloth, and 
other articles of the Indian traffic ; and with the .seawan bought 
the furs, corn, and venison from the Indians on the seaboard ; 
who also, with their shell money, bought such articles from 
Indians residing in the interior of the country. Thus, by this 
circulating medium, a brisk commerce was carried on, not only 
between the white people and the Indians, but between differ- 
ent tribes among the latter. For the seawan was not only their 
money, but it was an ornament to their persons. It distin- 
guished the rich from the poor, the proud from the humble. 
It was the tribute paid by the vanquished to those, the Five 
Nations for instance, who had exacted contribution. In the 
form of a belt it was sent with all public messages, and pre- 
served as a record of all public transactions between nations. 
If a message was sent without the belt, it was considered an 
empty v)ord, unworthy of remembrance. If the belt was re- 
turned, it was a rejection of the offer or profF(;r accompanying 
it. If accepted, it was a confirmation, and strengthened friend- 



60 niSTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

ships or effaced injuries, Tlic belt, with appropriate figures 
worked in it, was also the record of domestic transactions. 
The confederation of the Five Nations was thus recorded. 
The cockle shells had, indeed, more virtue amongst Indians 
than pearls, gold, and silver iuid among Europeans. Seawan was 
the seal of a contract — the oath of fidelity. It satisfied mur- 
ders and all otlier injuries ; purchased peace, and entered into 
the religious as well as civil ceremonies of the natives. A 
string of seawan was delivered by the orator in public council 
at the close of every distinct proposition made to others, as a 
ratification of the truth and sincerity of what he said ; and the 
white and black strings of seawan were tied by the pagan priest 
around the neck of the white dog suspended to a pole, and 
offered as a sacrifice to T^halonghyc.u'aagon, the upholder of 
the skies, the God of the Five Nations. 

The seawan was manufactured most abundantly upon Long 
Island, which abounded in shells, and called, for this reason, 
Seawan-hacky, or the " Island of Shells." The Poquanhock or 
Q,uahang, and the Periwinkle were extremely plenty ; and for 
this reason, in all probability, it was that the Mohawks, the Pe- 
quods, and other powerful tribes, made frequent wars upon the 
Long Island Indians, and compelled them to pay tribute in this 
almost universal article of trade and commerce. The immense 
quantity whi<:h was manufactured may account for the fact, 
that in the most extensive shell-banks left by the Indians, it is 
rare to find a whole shell ; having all been broken in the pro- 
cess of making the wampum. And it is not unlikely that 
many of the largest heaps of shells are the remains of a wam- 
pum manufactory. 

The French at one period undertook the counterfeiting of 
wampum by the substitution of a species of porcelain for shells, 
and which, could it have succeeded, might have proved a pro- 
fitable adventure ; but the Indians at once discovered the trick, 
and tlie manufacture of earthen money was given up. The 
Dutch and English made great quantities from the genuine 
material, and from the greater mechanical facilities they pos- 
sessed, gave them a wonderful advantage in the manufacture. 
But the consequence., as might be expected, was to diminish the 



WAMPUM AND TRIBUTE. 61 

value of it in proportion to its abundance. In the com- 
mencement of the European settlements, and in all purchases 
from the natives, wampum constituted a part of the price ; and 
this, with a few articles of clothing of trifling value, were ex- 
changed for large tracts of valuable land- 
Hazard, in his collection of state papers, mentions that the 
Narragansetts procured many shells from Long Island, out of 
which they manufactured Indian money ; and that they likewise 
frequently compelled the natives of the island to pay them large 
tribute in wampum. Dr. Edwards supposes that all the tribes 
upon Long Island, Staten Island, and Manhattan Island were 
equally tributary to the Six Nations, of whom the Mohawks 
were the most numerous and formidable. It is well known 
they were the most dreaded of any of the northern tribes, so 
much so, that even the name became associated with sensa- 
tions of fear and alarm in the minds of children and young 
people. The Pequots or Pequods, in the day of their power, 
inhabited the country about Stonington, Groton, and New 
London. To the north were the Mohegans, of whom Uncas 
was the chief, as Saccacus was of the Pequots, at the time of the 
first arrival of the white people. The Narragansetts occupied 
a portion of country including Rhode Island, and gave name 
to the beautiful bay between Point Judith and Point Seaconet 
whose chief was Canonicus. All these tribes committed occa- 
sional hostilities upon the Long Island Indians, and particu- 
larly the Montauks, who were nearest to them, and who were 
oftentimes obliged to purchase their safety by the payment of 
tribute in corn and wampum. 

In 1655 a large body of Indians, consisting of five hundred 
from New Jersey and the North River, landed at New Amster- 
dam, where they were provoked into hostilities, and did much 
injury. They then went to Staten Island, and committed 
great havoc there. A part of them went over to Long Island 
and threatened the settlement of Gravesend ; but as the Indians 
there refused to join them, they retired without doing much 
damage. In 1649 a murder wasp erpetrated at South Hamp- 
ton, and the town was greatly alarmed at the hostile appear- 
ance of the Indians in that neighborhood for several days. 



62 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



Many outrages, and even murders, were committed in the Dutch 
towns in 1652. In 1645 the town had ordered one half of the 
militia company to bring their arms to church with them upon 
the Lord's Day. And in 1651 the town of East Hampton 
ordered the inhabitants also to bring their arms to meeting with 
them, under the penalty of twelve pence for every neglect. In 
1681 the Indians plundered a store in Huntington, and threaten- 
ed the family. 

The Montauks were doubtless superior in numbers and war- 
like skill to any other of the Long Island tribes, and this supe- 
riority was acknowledged by the payment of tribute ; and it is 
evident from the early writers of New England, that the Pe- 
quots, the most powerful tribe in Connecticut, had at one time 
subdued the Montauks, and thereby the whole of the Long 
Island Indians were in subjection to the Pequots ; and which 
they acknowledged by the payment of an annual tribute, for a 
time at least. But after 1637 they seem to have considered 
themselves in subjection to the English, and paid them, for their 
protection, the same amount of tribute which they had previous- 
ly paid to the Pequots. In 1650, in consequence of their fail- 
ure to pay, the New England commissioners sent Captain Ma- 
son to Long Island to require payment of the tribute due from 
the Indians, and to make arrangements for its more punctual dis- 
charare in future. In 1656 the Montauk chief visited the com- 
missioners at Boston, and acquainted them that he had paid the 
tribute due from him at Hartford for the space of ten years, but 
that it was in arrear for the four last years, in consequence of 
the war in which they had been engaged with the Narragan- 
setts. On which account the commissioners consented to re- 
lease the payment of it. It is not easy at this day to perceive 
the justice of the imposition of this tribute by the white people. 
The Pequots, who had also been tributary to the English in- 
1650, remonstrated against the injustice of exacting tribute 
from them; in answer to which, the commissioners said it was 
imposed in 1635, for the murders they had committed. It was 
exacted from the Long Island Indians under the pretence that 
the whiles afforded them protection from their red brethren, to 
whom they would otherwise have been forced to pay tribute. 



I 



WAMPUM AND TRIBUTE. 63 

Governor Winthrop, in his Journal of 1637, says "The Indians 
sent in many Pequots' heads and hands from Long Island and 
other places, and Sachems from Long Island came voluntarily, 
and brought tribute to us of twenty fathoms of wampum each 
of them." Prom which it appears that the Long Island Indians 
were involved in wars, and dealt freely in the blood of their ene- 
mies when the opportunity offered. In 1636 Mr. Winthrop 
says that Mr. Withers, in a vessel of fifty tons, going to Virginia, 
was cast away upon Long Island ; seven of his men were 
drowned in landing, some got in a boat to the Dutch plantations, 
two were killed by the Indians, who took all such goods as 
were left upon the shore. '• In 1663," says the same author, " on 
the 2d of October, the barque Blessing, which was sent to the 
southward, returned ; she had been at an island over against 
Connecticut ; it is fifty leagues long, the east end about ten 
leagues from the main, but the west not one mile. The In- 
dians there are very treacherous, and have many canoes so great 
as will carry eighty men." In Winthrop's History of New En- 
gland, it is stated, that in 1638, Janemoh, the Sachem of Niantic, 
had gone to Long Island, and rifled some of those Indians which 
were tributary to that colony. " The Sachems complained to 
our friends of Connecticut, (says he,) who wrote us about it, 
and sent Captain Mason, with seven men, to require satisfaction ; 
upon this Janemoh went to Connecticut, made his peace, and 
gave full satisfaction for all injuries." "In 1643, (he says) 
the Indians of Long Island took part with their neighbors ou 
the main ; and as the Dutch took away their corn, so they took 
to burning the Dutch houses ; but these, by the mediation of 
Mr. Williams, were pacified, and peace re-established between 
them and the Dutch ; at length they came to an accord with the 
rest of the Indians. Those Indians having cleared away all the 
English upon the main as far as Stamford, they passed on to 
Long Island, and there assaulted the lady Moody in her house di- 
vers times, for there were forty gathered there to defend it ; they 
also set upon the Dutch with an implacable fury, and killed all 
they could come by, burnt their houses, and killed their cattle 
without restraint ; so as the Governor, and such as escaped, be- 
took themselves to their fort at Manhattan, and there lived and 



64 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

eat lip their cattle." Tn Gookin's History, it is said, " The Peqnots 
were a very warHke people about forty years since, (1624,) at 
, which time they were in their meridian ; their chief Sachem 
held dominion over divers petty Sagamores, as over part of 
Long Island, over the Mohegans, and over the Sagamores of 
Q.uinipiac ; yea, over all the people that dwelt on Connecticut 
River, and over some of the most southerly inhabitants of the 
Nipmuck country about duinebaug." Another writer observes, 
that when t?ie Dutch began the settlement of New- York, all the 
Indians on Long Island and the northern shore of the Sound, 
on the banks of the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Sus- 
quehannah rivers, were in subjection to the Iroquois or Five Na- 
tions, and within the memory of persons now living, acknow- 
ledged it by the payment of tribute. As a proof, it is mentioned 
that a small tribe near the Sugar-loaf Mountain, in 1756, made 
a payment of 20/. a-year to the Mohawks. 

Tammany was an Indian chief of the Delaware or Lenni-Le- 
nape tribe, and was living after the arrival of Penn ; his resi- 
dence is said to have been where Germantown now stands. So- 
cieties named from this chief have been formed in New- York 
and other places, and the place of their meeting is called a 
wigwam ; Indian costume and phrases have also been adopted 
by these associations ; but they are now very much out of use. 
Some, however, have doubted the fact of the Long Island In- 
dians being tributary, as has been stated by other writers. The 
Dutch, (says the venerable Samuel Jones,) finding all the In- 
dians within and adjoining their settlements on Long Island 
tributary to the Mohawks or Five Nations, probably concluded 
that all the Indians on the island were so. On the contrary, 
says Mr. Jones, a tradition once prevailed among the Montauk 
Indians that their ancestors had wars with the Indians on the 
main, who conquered them, and compelled them to pay tribute- 
This confirms the assertion, so often made in history, that the 
Narragansetts once held dominion over a part of Long Island 
at least, and probably compelled the natives to assist them 
against their enemies. When the English commissioners met 
at Hartford in 1650, Uncas came with a complaint that a Sa- 
chem of Long Island had killed some of his men, bewitched di- 



OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES. 65 

vers others, mid himself also ; and desired of the commissioners 
that he might be righted tlicreiii. About a year after the death 
of Miantonimoh, Niiiigret undertook to organize a plan for ex- 
tirpating the English, and sent a messenger to Wyandance, the 
Long Island Sachem, to engage him in it. Instead of listening 
to his message, Wyandance seized upon Ninigret's messenger, 
bound him, and sent him to Captain Gardiner at Saybrook fort. 
From thence lie was sent under a guard of ten men for Hart- 
ford. But they were wind-bound in their passage, and obliged 
to put into Shelter Island, where an old Sachem lived, the eld- 
est brother of Wyandance. Here they let Ninigret's ambassa- 
dor escape, and thus Ninigret was informed that his plan was 
discovered and defeated. After the peace of 1054 between the 
Montauk Indians and those upon the main, the Long Islanders, 
pretending to visit Ninekunet at Block Island, slaughtered of 
his men near thirty persons at midnight, two of whom were of 
great note. After which Ninigret surprised some of the Long 
Island Indians upon Gull Island, and killed many of them ; 
and for which massacre the general Court of Connecticut de- 
manded several hundred fathoms of wampum as a satisfaction. 
In 1761 the Indians had so diminished on Long Island, as 
in some places to have entirely disappeared, and in others great- 
ly reduced ; and even the once powerful Montauks could only 
number thirty-eight families, and one hundred and ninety-two 
souls. These were further reduced, in 17S3, by the emigra- 
tion of a considerable number to Oneida County with the Rev. 
Sampson Occom. 

OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES. 

The Indians on Long Island, on the arrival of the white peo- 
ple, were found divided into distinct tribes, or collections of 
families, having d liferent names, and exercising exclusive and 
independent authority or control over separate portions of the 
territory ; and these tribes had, moreover, eacli their chiefs and 
head men, called Sachems and Sagamores, with a sort of su- 
preme power in the conduct of public affairs, questions of war, 
treaties, and the payment of tribute. P^'rom the Sachems of the 

9 



CO HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

different tribes, and sometimes from a few other head men as- 
sociated with them, the lands were purchased by tlie white peo- 
ple, and from whom have descended the title to all the real es- 
tate upon the island. Motives of honor, justice, and humanity, 
as well as true policy, dictated the propriety of such a course 
by strangers coming to settle in a country already occupied by 
a people, the undisputed tenants of the soil. The price was 
was always fixed by the convention of the parties, and good 
faith, it is believed, was always observed on the part of the 
white people. 

The principal tribes inhabiting the island at that distant pe- 
riod, and occupying distinct and well-defined portions of terri- 
tory, were thirteen in number, and were the undisputed claim- 
ants of the lands, over which they exercised an independent 
jurisdiction, as follows : 

The Canarsee Tribe claimed the whole of the lands now 
included within the limits of King's County and a part of the 
town of Jamaica. The principal settlement was probably about 
Flatlands, where there is a place Avhicli yet retains the name of 
Canarsee, and was, perhaps, the residence of the Sachem. The 
last of the tribe is known to have died about 40 years ago. 
The inhabitants, in the infancy of the settlement, had much dif- 
ficulty with this tribe, and were com.pelled to erect places of 
defence, to prevent the consequences of surprise. The im- 
mense piles of shells at this place and upon Bergen Island, show 
their number must at one time have been very considerable. 

The Rockaavay Tribe were scattered over the southern 
part of the town of Hempstead, which, with a part of .Jamaica 
and the whole of TS'ewtown, were the bounds of their claim. 
The greater part of the population was at Near Rockaway, and 
as far west as the present site of the Marine Pavilion. Those 
Indians who resided at the head of Maspeth Creek in Newtown, 
were a portion of this tribe, as deeds for land there were uniform- 
ly executed by the Rockaway Sachem, which could not 
have been the case had the INIaspeth Indians been a distinct 
tribe. This tribe had likewise a settlement upon Hog Island, 
consisting of several hundred acres, situate in the waters of 



OF TtlK DIFFERENT TRIBES. 67 

Rockaway Bay. The banks of shells in different places are 
very large. 

The Merric, Meroke, or Merikoke Tribe, as they have 
been differently denominated, claimed all the territory south 
of the middle of the island, from Near Rockaway to the west 
line of Oyster Bay ; and were, in all probability, at some for- 
mer period, a part of the Massapequa, or Marsapeague tribe. 
A part of the lands in the town of Hempstead were purchased of 
this tribe. They had a large settlement upon Hicks's Neck, 
and other Necks between that and the village of Merric. 

The Massapeq.ua, or Marsapeague Tribe had their prin- 
cipal settlement at the place called Fort Neck ; and from thence 
eastward to the bounds of Islip, and north to the middle of the 
island; being the usual boundary of all the tribes by a kind of 
common consent. The only remarkable battle between the 
whites and Indians was fought with this tribe, when their fort 
was taken and demolished by a force under the command of 
Captain John Underbill, about the year 1053. 

The Matinecock Tribe claimed jurisdiction of the lands 
east of Newtown as far as the west line of Smithtown, and 
probably to the west side of Nesaquake River. This was a nu- 
merous tribe, and had several large settlements at Flushing, 
Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington, and Cow Harbor ; and 
they possessed, from their local advantages, the means of sub- 
sistence very abundantly. 

The Nesaciuake Tribe possessed the country east of the 
river of that name to Stony-Brook, and from the Sound to the 
middle of the island. The extensive shell-banks near the vil- 
lage of Nesaquake show that it was the site of a considerable 
settlement, and probably the residence of the Sachem. 

The Seatalcot, or Setauket Tribe claimed from Stony- 
Brook to the Wading River, and weis one of the most powerful 
tribes in the county. They inhabited the sides of the different 
creeks, coves, and harbors, and upon Little Neck, (now called 
Strong's Neck,) which issupposed to have been a royal residence. 

The Corchaug Tribe owned the remainder of the ter- 
ritory from the Wading River to Oyster Ponds, and were 
spread along the north shore of Peconic Bay, and upon the 



^^ HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Necks adjoining tlie Sound. They probablj^ claimed Robin's 
Island also. 

The Manhasset Trire possessed Shelter Island, Ram Is- 
land, and probably Hog Island. This tribe, althongh confined 
to about 10,000 acres, could, as tradition affirms, bring into the 
field more than 500 fighting-men. The Sachem oniiis tribe 
was a brother of Wyandance, Sachem of Montauk. 

The Secatogue Tribe adjoined the Masapequa Tribe on 
the west, and possessed the country as far east as Patchoo-ue. 
The form owned by the Willet's fomily at Islip is called Seca- 
togue Neck, and was, it is supposed, the chief settlement, and 
residence of the Sachem. 

The Patchogue Tribe extended east from that place to 
Westhampton, and, as some think, as far as Canoe Place. The 
principal settlements must have been Patchogue, Fireplace, 
Mastic, Moriches, and Westhampton. 

The Shixecock Tribe claimed the territory from Canoe 
Place to Easthampton, including Sagg Harbor and the whole 
south shore of Peconic Bay. 

The Montauk Tribe had jurisdiction over all the remain- 
ing lands to Montauk Point, and probably included Gardiner's 
Island. The Sachem of this tribe was of so much consequence 
as to have been acknowledged the Grand Sachem of Pauma- 
nacke, as Long Island was sometimes called. 

The lands in King's County were principally purchased by 
the governor of the New Netherlands from tlie natives, and by I 

him disposed of to the settlers ; but in all the English towns ' 

purchases were made by the planters directly from die Indians,' 
and for which patents of confirmation were subsequently procur- 
ed from the governor after the conquest. It is presumed ths 
Indian inhabitants paid little attention to the cultivation of the 
land, except the raising a small quantity of corn ; but depended, 
in great measure, upon the flesh of the deer and other wild game,' 
and the great abundance offish, clams, and oysters, whichVere 
found on every shore, and in every creek and harbor. Except 
their canoes, some of which were verv lar^e, and their bows and 
arrows, the only materials of art amono- them, were some rude 
vessels of earth hardened in the fire, fragments of v/hich are 



OP THE DIFFERENT TRIBES. 69 

sometimes found. The manufacture of wampnm, and its use 
as money, is an evidence that, however simple or limited the 
business of any people may be, some sort of circulating medium 
is indispensable. Governor Winthrop speaks of the superior 
elegance of the wampum made by the Long Islanders in the 
year 1634. The Dutch and English, both from necessity and 
convenience, resorted to this species of exchange, the value of 
which was adjusted by common consent and general usage. 

The religious notions of the Long Island Indians are des- 
cribed in a communication from the Rev. Sampson Occom, an 
educated Indian minister, and published among the valuable 
collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

His words are, " They believe in a 'plurality of Gods, and 
in one great and good Beings who controls all the rest. They 
likewise believe in an Evil spirit, and have their conjurors or 
fawawsT This ceremony was of so odious a character in the 
opinion of the white people, that by the Duke's laws in 1665, 
it was enacted that " no Indian should be suffered to pawatv, 
or perform ivorship to the devil, in any town within this go- 
vernment.^^ 

The language of the Montauk Indians is supposed to have 
been the same with that of all the Long Island Indians, and 
differing little from the Narragansetts and other New-Eno-land 
tribes. 

It has been contended that no more than two original lan- 
guages ever existed among the American Indians north of the 
Roanoke, the Delaware and the Iroquois, — the languages of 
the different tribes from Mississippi to Nova Scotia being, at 
most, particular dialects of the Delaware language. The struc- 
ture of the Indian tongue is admitted to be different in many 
respects from all other known languages, ancient or modern. 

Sampson Occom, the Indian clergyman above named, was 
born at Mohegan, on the Thames, near Norwich, Connecticut, 
in the year 1723 ; and was the first Indian pupil educated by 
the Rev. Mr Wheelock, at Lebanon, in 1742, at the age of 19 
years, were he remained four years. About the year 1755 he 
went to Montauk, where he opened a school, and officiated as 
public teacher of the Indian tribe there and preached also oc- 



70 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

casionally to the Indians at Shinecock. He continned at 
Montaiik Point about 10 years. On the 29th of August, 1759, 
he was ordained by the Sutiblk Presbytery. He next engaged 
in a mission to the Oneidas, and continued with them till he 
accompanied Mr VVhittaker to Europe, and was the first Indian 
preacher who visited England. The houses in which he 
preached were thronged. Between February 1(3, 176(3, and 
July 22, 1767, he preached in various parts of the kingdom, 
and between three and four hundred sermons. On his return 
from Europe, he remained awhile at Mohegan, whence he remov- 
ed, in 17S6, to the Stockbridge Indians at Brothertown, Oneida 
County. Many of the Mohegans and several of the Moiitauk 
tribe accompanied him to that place, where he died, in July, 
1792. While in England he preached in the crowded chapels 
of London, and even occupied the pulpit of Whitfield with ac- 
ceptance. The house in which he formerly lived, and the 
church in which he preached, are, or were lately, standing at 
Montville, New London Countj'-, Connecticut. 

Paul Cuffee, another Indian preacher, a man of singular 
eloquence, and of very considerable powers of mind, formerly 
labored among the Indians at Montauk and Shinecock ; and 
although not a person of much education, was a useful and re- 
spectable man. He was buried nearly a mile west of Canoe 
Place, where the Indian meeting-house then stood ; and over 
whose grave a neat marble slab has been placed, upon which 
is the following inscription : — 

Erected by the Missionary Society of New- York, in 
memory of the Rev. Paul Cuffee, an Indian of the 
Shinecock Tribe, who was employed by that Society 
for the last 13 years of his life on the eastern part of 
Long Island, where he labored with fidelity and suc- 
cess. 
Humble, pious, and indefatigable in testifying the gos- 
pel of the grace of God, he finished his course with 
joy on the 7th day of March, 1812, aged 55 years 
and 3 days." 
In Johnson's " Wonder Woi-king Providence" a book as rare 
as it is singular, it is stated that when the English first com- 



OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES. 71 

meiiced the settlement of Long Island, the Indians annoyed them 
much by the multitude of dogs they kept, which ordinarily were 
young wolves brought up tame, and continuing of a very ra- 
venous nature. 

In 1643, one year before the Dutch war with the Indians 
north of the Sound, the Governor made a treaty with Penno- 
wits. Sachem of the Matinecock Indians ; and in 1646 made a 
treaty also with Tackapausa, Sachem of the Marsapeague tribe, 
and with the representatives of five others. 

Thus the Dutch on the west, and the English on the east end 
of the island, maintained a firm and constant friendship with 
the natives near them ; the consequences of which were the most 
happy on both sides. 

THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 

The hope of discovering a north-west passage to India, 
which had long been a favorite project of the maritime powers 
of Europe, and as yet hardly abandoned, was the propelling 
motive of several voyages undertaken by Henry Hudson in the 
first part of the seventeenth century. Two of these voyages 
were made in the years 1607 and 1608, in the service of an 
English association, which, being at length discouraged by ill 
success, finally abandoned the enterprise. On his third voyage 
in the service of the Dutch East India Company, Hudson, with 
a picked crewof twenty men, partly English and partly Dutch, 
ran down the coast from Newfoundland to 35° 4' N. lat., to 
ascertain whether a passage to the Pacific might not be found 
through the continent of North America. Retracing his route, 
he entered Delaware Bay on the 28th of August, 1609, but de- 
clined to explore it on account of the intricacy of the channel. 
Following the eastern shore of New Jersey, he anchored his 
ship, the " Half-Moon," on the 3d of September, 1 609, within the 
beach at Sandy Hook ; and after exploring the river to Albany, 
again put to sea, and arrived in Europe the 7th of November, 
1609. 

Although disappointed in the main object of the voyage, the 
Dutch Company believed they might establish a profitable trade 
in furs with the natives upon the Hudson River ; and repeated 



72 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

voyages were afterwards made, that excited the ambition of 
private adventurers, which the Company endeavored to prevent 
by obtauiing a decree of the States General in their fovor, 
thereby securing a monopoly to themselves. This took place 
27th March, 1614. 

In the service of this Company Adrian Block and Hendrick 
Christiance sailed, in the year 1614, and arriving here, erected a 
fort and a few dwellings upon Manhattan Island or its neigh- 
borhood by consent of tiie natives. The former of these navi- 
gators first sailed through Hell Gate, and passing the Sound 
in his way to Boston, gave name to Block Island, and disco- 
vered Long Island to be entirely surrounded by water. 

An alliance was immediately formed between the Dutch and 
Indians as an indispensable pre-requisite to the safety of the in- 
fant settlement, and to ensure to themselves the full benefit of an 
established trade. Yet, as the main object of the Company was 
the commercial advantages to be derived from the fur trade, 
little was done for some years in the way of colonization and 
settlement of the country. 

In 1621 the great West India Company was formed in Hol- 
land, sustained by the wealth and power of the " States Gene- 
ral." The former licensed trading Company was merged in 
this, which gave great additional means and facilities for 
peopling the country with emigrants from Holland. And to 
this circumstance may be ascribed the first suecessful attempts 
of the Dutch to plant colonies in America. 

In 1623 and 1624 the Company fitted out two ships for New 
Amsterdam, as New- York was then called, in one of which came 
Peter Minuit, the first director general or governor of the New 
Netherlands. 

Although the history of this interesting era is very defective, 
in consequence of a want of documentary evidence, yet enough 
has been preserved to exhibit the manner in which the settle- 
ment of the country gradually progressed from the first rude 
beginnings to the establishment of regular government, and a 
commerce of considerable extent and importance. 

The West India Company had by their charter an exclusive 
right to trade to America for twenty-four years, and the governor 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 73 

held his commission by their appointment. The Dutch made a 
purchase of land upon the island called Manhattan in 1623. 
and gave to the settlement the name of New Amsterdam, and to 
the country generally New Netherlands ; by which appellations 
they continued to be known till the conquest by the English. 

King James, about the same time, granted a patent to the Lon- 
don Company, under which they laid claim to New- York. 
The Dutch and English both claimed Long Island upon the 
ground of prior discovery of the country, it having been a prin- 
ciple generally adopted by the European powers, or a part of 
the ccnveutial law of nations, that new discoveries should enure 
to the nation under whose authority, or by whose citizens they 
were made. And it was alleged by the English, that Sebas- 
tian Cabot had, while in their service, discovered the whole of 
North America from thirty to fifty-eight degrees of north lati- 
tude ; that many voyages had been made to different parts 
of the coast by English navigators previous to the year 1606 ; 
and that King James had, by letters patent, in that year grant- 
ed all that part of the continent between 34 and 45 degrees of 
north latitude to Sir Thomas Gates and others, with permission 
to divide themselves into two companies ; the first to be called 
the London Company, and the other the Plymouth Company. 

In consequence of these conflicting claims of territory, both 
powers endeavored to strengthen their authority by encourag- 
ing and extending their settlements upon this continent. The 
English, however, mostly confined their operations to New 
England, while the Dutch claimed New- York and New Jersey, 
and even the country as far east as Connecticut River. 

Wonter Van Twiller, the first Dutch governor (so called) of 
the New Netherlands, assumed the administration in the year 
1629, and continued in authority till 1638. Authentic his- 
tory presents little account of the administration of this gentle- 
man ; but a work of exquisite humor, in which fiction builds 
upon the ground-work of truth, has fully amplified his renown ; 
and the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, his panegyrist, will 
for ever remind posterity of the imperturbable gravity and un- 
utterable ponderings of " Walter the Doubter." 

During his administration, settlements began to be made in 

10 



74 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Kiuif's Comity, and near its close, or very soon after, in the 
eastern part of Suffolk, particnlarly Southampton and Sontli- 
old. The respective settlements under the Dutch and English 
in the several towns, were nearly cotemporaneons, and were 
all considerably advanced within the period of forty years ; 
although there does not appear to have been any union or com- 
bination among them till the formation of Ridings at the con- 
quest in IGG i. In the Dutch towns the lands were chielly, if 
not universally, purchased in the first instance from the natives 
by the governor, and by him granted out to individuals or com- 
panies ; but in the English towns within the Dutch territory, 
the lands were procured by the first settlers immediately from 
the Sachems and head men of the several Indian tribes ; and 
in the territory independent of the Dutch, the lands were bought 
from the natives, (originally with the consent of the agent of 
the Earl of Stirling,) and afterwards by their own h-ee con- 
tract with the natives. In the case of grants to companies 
from the Dutch governor, the lands were subsequently divided 
among the individual inhabitants by lot ; and in all other cases 
of purchase, individuals were deemed entitled to a quantity of 
land in proportion to the amount paid by each toward the 
purchase thereof, or the expense of the patent by which it 
was confirmed. xVnd long alter the settlements of tiie several 
Eno-lish towns, in the distribution of the common lands of the 
town, the number of acres apportioned to each individual was 
in exact ratio with the sum contributed to the original pur- 
chase, or to the expenses incident to obtaining of patents, or 
other charges of a public nature. Thus, in the town of Hemp- 
stead the portions allotted to the individual inhabitants ditlered 
from ten to two hundred acres. In a few instances large and 
valuable tracts were purchased by associations of individuals 
for themselves, and have remained private property ev^er since. 
Such is the case with the lands of Montauk and Shinecock. 
A few towns have at the present time large quantities of com- 
mon lands, which are only improved as a common pasturage, 
or for cutting the grass. The town of Jamaica possesses a 
considerable tract of common meadows, which are rented out 
for the benefit of the town, or cut by the inhabitants themselves ; 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. (0 

the same is the case iii the town of Oyster Bay ; and the town 
of Hempstead has now more than twenty thousand acres of 
upland and meadow, used as pubhc commons, and continuing 
ia a state of nature. The Enghsh settlers, as well under the 
Dutch jurisdiction as otherwise, were originally united in their 
religious creeds and opinions, and were generally those contain- 
ed in the confession of faith adopted by the Assembly of Divines 
at Westminster in 1642. Among them the Congregational 
form of church government prevailed till the year 1747, when 
the Presbyterian order was adopted as most likely to preserve 
purity of doctrine and a more efficient discipline. In some of 
the towns a minister was amoncf the first settlers, and the or- 
ganization of churches was deemed a matter of primary impor- 
tance. In the Dutch towns the governor claimed the right of 
licensing ministers, by which he virtually assumed to be the 
head of the church, or the source of ecclesiastical authority. 
Many symptonLs of superstition and a spirit of intolerance were 
early manifested, but not to the same extent as in some parts 
of New England. Those who were deemed heretics, were ob- 
jected to by all, among whom the peaceable and unoffending 
Q,uaker was included. They seem to have been equally discoun- 
tenanced by the Dutch and English ; and in some instances 
they were treated with no small severity. During the adminis- 
tration of Governor Stuyvesant, a very respectable member of the 
Society of Friends was even apprehended and transported a 
prisoner to Holland, for trial as a heretic ; and some years after 
that, a Cluaker preacher was confined in the jail of Queen's 
County, for more than twelve months, for a similar offence. It 
may be said that this species of persecution, has existed to a 
greater or less extent in all ages : but the inconsistency seems 
the more apparent, and the incongruity greater, with those who 
for conscience sake had fiad from tyranny and oppression in 
a foreign country, and sought an asylum in this, where they 
might enjoy entirely unmolested the most perfect freedom, 
civil and reliorious. Even these, with all their professed zeal for 
equality and justice, could persecute in their turn, and attempt 
to expel fro.m the pale of society and fellowship the simple- 



76 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

hearted Quaker, who craved only the privilege of thinking for 
himself, and imparting his opinions freely to others. 

The States General of the United Belgic Provinces, in their 
grant to the Dutch West India Company in 1621, reserved to 
themselves the power of commissioning the governor whom 
they should appoint. The object was a politic one, and intend- 
ed to connect the interest of the Company with that of the 
mother country, and by their influence and authority to secure 
a partial control at least over the colony ; and in 1623, when the 
Company fitted out two ships for the purpose of establishing trade 
here, Peter Minuit was sent out by them under the title of Direc- 
tor-general of New Netherlands, which was, in fact, but another 
name for governor ; and with him came a colony of Walloons, 
some of whom, it is supposed, settled on the west end of Long 
Island, and from whom the Waal-bocht, now called the Wall- 
about^ received its name. Slaves were introduced here as early 
as 1626, if not sooner ; and the Dutch carried on a traffic in 
slaves between Africa and Virginia. Some were even carried 
there in 1620 in Dutch vessels. 

William Kieft succeeded Wonter Van T wilier as governor of 
New Netherlands in 1638, and remained in office for the space 
of nine years. During his administration he was beset with 
difficulties of every kind. The Swedes, he conceived, encroach- 
ed upon him at the south and the English on the east ; while in 
the years 1645 and 6 he was involved in extensive wars 
with the Indians, both upon Long Island and the Main. To- 
ward the close of his administration was fought the great bat- 
tle of Strickland's Plain, with great slaughter on both sides. In 
May, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant, a brave old officer, was commis- 
sioned governor, and speedily restored peace with the hostile 
Indians. He also made such arrangements with the United 
Colonies of New England as to maintain a tolerable good 
understanding with them throughout his administration. He 
remained in the office of governor till the conquest in 1664. 
All the powers of government — executive, legislative and judi- 
cial — were vested in him and his council. He directly or indi- 
rectly appointed or commissioned all the public officers, framed 
he laws, and decided all important controversies. He more- 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 77 

over heard all appeals from subordinate magistrates, and requir- 
ed them to send such cases as were depending before them to 
the council, to be decided as they saw fit. In April, 1660, the 
governor ordered the magistrates of Rusdorpe (Jamaica) to refer 
a certain cause, then pending before them, to the council, to 
be heard and determined ; and the magistrates of Middle- 
burgh (Newtown) on another occasion were required to do 
likewise. He also ordered churches to be built, he installed 
ministers, and even directed them when and where to preach. 
He excluded those whose tenets he did not approve, and final- 
ly assumed and exercised the sole prerogative over the public 
lands. The Indian title was extinguished by him, and no pur- 
chase could be made of the natives without his leave and ap- 
probation. He granted out at his pleasure, to individuals or 
companies, parcels of land for settlement and cultivation, sub- 
ject to such conditions and payments as he thought proper to 
impose. And from the frequent complaints made by the dele- 
gates of the different towns, it appears that he exercised the pre- 
rogative in a capricious and arbitrary manner ; refusing lands 
to some, and making large and extravagant grants to others, 
his favorites and political partisans. The Dutch towns seem 
to have been settled by degrees, and without any previous con- 
cert of individuals, or without any immediate organization of 
courts for administering justice. Nor does it seem that they 
entered into any arrangement for self-government, but left eve- 
ry thing to the will and pleasure of the governor, who appoint- 
ed officers of different kinds in the several villages, with more 
or less power, and without any uniformity as to their number, 
title, or duration of office. As population increased, the people 
were permitted to nominate magistrates, to be approved of by the 
governor ; but their powers were not defined by any general law, 
and therefore their acts frequently became matter of complaint. 
In 1661 the governor established a new court, with greater and 
more definite authority than before. The magistrates subse- 
quently chosen and approved, were authorized to decide con- 
troversies between master and servant, seller and buyer, landlord 
and tenant; and to take cognizance of all breaches of the peace 
and other misdemeanors ; the Dutch courts generally pro- 



78 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

ceeding according to the maxims and principles of the "civil 
law," which may properly be called the " common law" of the 
Dutch empire. 

The English, who settled the townsofGravesend, Newtown, 
Flushing, Jamaica, and Hempstead, became, from unavoidable 
necessity, though very reluctantly, Dutch subjects ; but were al- 
lowed to hold lands, enjoy liberty of conscience, and employ their 
own ministers ; yet in their choice of magistrates it was requir- 
ed that the approbation of the governor should be obtained, to 
authorize them to discharge the duties of their office, Hemp- 
stead and Gravesend were incorporated towns, yet the assent of 
the governor was equally required to sanction their election of 
magistrates, although it was alleged to be mere matter of form. 
They were also authorized by their charters to elect a scout 
(or constable), and a clerk or recorder, to take and preserve the 
minutes of town proceedings. The magistrates were vested 
with full power to try causes, civil and criminal, with a limited 
jurisdiction as to the amount in controversy and the nature of 
the crime ; and to make ordinances or by-laws for the welfare 
and good government of the towns respectively. Flushmg 
was also partially incorporated, but restricted by its charter 
from electing any other officer than a scout or constable, with 
power to preserve good order, heal difierences between neigh- 
bors, and report all important cases to the governor for his 
consideration and decision. This town was afterwards en- 
dowed with the power of nominating magistrates, like the other 
towns ; and such was the case with the towns of Newtown and 
Jamaica. 

The general practice in those towns subject to the authority 
of the Dutch, was for the people to choose double the number 
of persons required, out of whom the governor selected and 
commissioned those who should serve as magistrates. In those 
towns which were independent of the Dutch, they elected an- 
nually a certain number of officers, whom they denominated 
townsmen; whose duty it was to superintend the public con- 
cerns of the town, and to take cognizance of all trespasses upon 
the town lands. They, moreover, were associated with the 
magistrates in making such prudential rules and regulations 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 79 

as they mutually considered the public good required, (except 
such as related to the admission of settlers and the disposition 
of lands), but which were to be submitted to the consideration 
of the people in town meeting, to be approved or disallowed by 
them. The authority of the townsmen, as well as of the jus- 
tices, extended to such matters as concerned the pohce of the 
towns ; and certain minor duties, such as related to the making 
and repairing offences, prescribing the time and manner of feed- 
ing the common lands, planting the common fields, &,c. The 
towns in Suffolk County were not subject to the control of any 
colony, nor had they any political connection with each other 
before the conquest, except certain conventional agreements 
for specific purposes. Being too remote from Europe to derive 
any protection from that quarter, and without political alliances 
here, the whole power of government was retained by and 
vested in the primary assemblies of the people ; being an in- 
stance of a pure democracy, and which, apparently, answered 
all the ends of government in those days of ancient simplicity. 
They elected magistrates and other civil officers, and established 
courts, which decided causes with or without the intervention 
of a jury, according to the discretion of the court, subject to 
the ultimate decision of the town meeting, called the General 
Court, if either party was dissatisfied with the determination of 
the court below. The patents, or ground briefs, issued by the 
Dutch governors, were made by authority of the mother coun- 
try, and usually commenced as follows: "We, director and 
council residing in New Netherlands, on the Island of 
Manhattan, under the government of their High Mightinesses 
the Lords, the States General of the United Netherlands, and 
the privileged West India Company," (fcc. The first patents 
enrolled bear date one year after the arrival of Governor Van 
T wilier ; but there are no records remaining in the Secretary's 
office of the proceedings of the Dutch Government during his 
administration. In 1640, or a little before, a few English emi^ 
grants attempted a settlement at Oyster Bay ; but the Dutch 
were so jealous of them, that Governor Keift sent a scout with 
a few soldiers, took some prisoners, and broke up the settle- 
ment. The character of his Excellency is represented as rash 



80 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

and disposed likewise to tyrannize over those whom he was 
appointed to govern. He is said sometimes to have sported 
with the rights of the people, by rejecting, without reason, the 
names of magistrates presented for his approbation from mere 
wantonness and caprice, as was the case also with his successor. 
The government was neither suited to the people, or calculated 
to afiord them adequate protection. The laws were imperfect, 
and many of them not at all adapted to the exigency of the 
times ; and to aggravate the matter, the governor and council 
were either indisposed or incompetent to remedy many import- 
ant defects in the administration of civil and criminal justice. 
The sense of public insecurity in time produced a spirit of 
general discontent, and the people, with great unanimity, re- 
solved to state their grievances to the governor, and to demand 
redress. Accordingly, the burgomasters of New Amsterdam 
called upon the several Dutch towns to send delegates to a 
convention in that city on the 26th of November, 1653. They 
met, and adjourned to the 11th of December following ; at which 
time delegates from the city, from Brooklyn, Flatbush, Flatlands, 
Gravesend, Newtown, Flushing, and Hempstead met ; and 
after mutual consultation and discussion of various matters,, 
adopted a remonstrance, which was ably drawn up, and ex- 
pressed in spirited but decent language. The following ex- 
tract from this ancient document contains the most material 
parts of it, and shows sufficiently, that even in that day the peo- 
ple had not only intelligence enough to understand their rights, 
but knew also the legitimate objects of civil government. 

" To the Honorable Director General and Council of New 
Netherlands together, to the Council of the high and mighty 
Lords, the States-General of the United Provinces : — 

" The humble remonstrance and petition of the colonies and 
villages in the province of New Netherland, humbly show : 

" We acknowledge a paternal government, which God and 
Nature has established in the world for the maintenance and 
preservation of peace, and the welfare of men, not only prin- 
cipally in conformity to the laws of nature, but according to 
the law and precepts of God, to which we consider ourselves 
obliged by his word, and therefore submit to it. The Lord 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 81 

our God having invested their high Mightinesses the States- 
General, as his ministers, with the power to promote the welfare 
of their subjects, as well of those residing within the United 
Provinces as of those at this side of the sea, which we grate- 
fully acknowledge ; and having commissioned in the same 
view some subaltern magistrates, and clothed them with au- 
thority to promote the same end, as are the Lords Directors 
of the privileged West India Company, whom we acknowledge 
as lords and patroons of this place, next to your Lordships, as 
being their representatives. 

"We settled here on a mutual agreement and contract with 
the lord patroons, with the consent of the natives, who were the 
first proprietors of these lands ; of whom we purchased the soil at 
our own expense, and transformed a wilderness, with immense 
labor, into a few small villages and many cultivated farms, 
encouraged by the privileges wliich we obtained, and whose 
preservation is dear to us. 

" The deep homage and profound respect which we feel for 
the Government of the United Netherlands, consisting and co- 
agulated from various nations of the world : That we, leaving 
at our own expense, our country and countrymen, voluntarily 
choose to submit to their protection, and being now immatricu- 
lated in their body under our sovereign, the high and mighty 
lords, the States-General whom we acknowledge : 

" This being considered, Ave humbly solicit that this our re- 
monstrance and petition may be received and well construed, 
without being misinterpreted.-' 

The remonstrance then sets forth their apprehensions of an 
arbitrary government being established, rendering life and pro- 
perty unsafe. That injustice towards the natives might lead 
them to commit outrages upon them. That officers are ap- 
pointed contrary to law, and without the choice of the people. 
That many obsolete laws are liable to be put in force, by 
which many may be exposed to danger without knowing it. 
That much delay hath occurred in the execution of grants to 
those who had right to expect them. That large tracts of land 
are conveyed to favored individuals, to the injury of others. 
They then conclude as follows : 

11 



82 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



"As we exert ourselves to reduce all our griefs to six points, 
in the hope they will soon be redressed agreeable to the pri- 
vileges of our country, when all discontents shall cease, a mu- 
tual harmony be restored and our anxiety relieved. 

"We apply, therefore, to your wisdom to heal our sicknesses 
and pains. We shall remain thankful, and consider any fur- 
ther application needless, as we should otherwise be compelled 

to do. 

"Upon which, humbly soliciting your Honors' answer on 
every point or article, in such a manner that we may remain 
satisfied, or proceed further, &.c. as God shall direct our steps." 

" Your Honors' suppliant Servants, 

" Arent Van Hatten, 
Martin Cueiger, 
P. L. Vander Girst, 
Frederick Lubberson, 
Paulus Vander Beek, 
William Eeekman, 
John Hicks, 
Tobias Feeks, 
Robert Coe, 
Thomas Hazzard, 
William Washborn, 
John Somers, 
Peter Wolverton, 
Jan. Stryker, 
Thomas Penewit, 
Elbert Elbertson, 
Thomas Spicer, 
George Baxter, 
James Hubbarh, 

"Done Dec. 11, 1653." 
To this remonstrance the governor and council gave no for- 
mal answer to the deputies, but entered a reply upon their 
minutes; denied the right of some of the towns to send depu- 
ties, particularly Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Flatlands ; and pro- 
tested against the meeting. In their obseryations, the gover- 



New- York. 



BrooJdyn. 



Flushing. 



> Ncu'town. 
\ Hempstead. 

Flatlajids. 

Flatbush. 
Gravesend.^^ 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 83 

nor and council reflect much on the EngHsh as the authors of" 
the pubUc discontents, and especially upon George IJaxter from 
Gravesend. to whom they evidently impute the draft of the re- 
monstrance. 

Of Baxter and Hubbard it is ascertained that Baxter had 
been an ensign, and James Hubbard a sergeant in the British 
service, and are so named in the charter of Gravesend. They 
seem both to have been men of talents and capacity, and were 
generally entrusted with the management of the affairs of that 
town. In 1G42 Governor Kieft appointed the former his " En- 
glish secretary to write his letters, with a salary of two hundred 
and fifty guilders a year, in consideration of his talents and 
knowledge of the English language, and of the lawP He was 
appointed by Governor Stuyvesant himself one of the commis- 
sioners who negotiated the treaty of Hartford in 1G50. He had 
been educated in the principles of English liberty, and could 
not therefore countenance the tyranny of the Dutch governor ; 
his opposition to which made him the victim of Executive per- 
secution, and it is supposed he was obliged to leave the country 
to escape the resentment of the government. On the 13tli of De- 
cember. 1653, the deputies presented another remonstrance, in 
which they declared that if they could not obtain redress or 
protection from the governor and council, they must appeal to 
their superiors in the Netherlands. This so irritated Stuyve- 
sant, that with true Dutch resolution, he ordered them " to dis- 
perse, and not to assemble again upon such a business." 

At this period the country was overrun with robbers, and 
there appeared to the inhabitants, who suffered by their depre- 
dations, no mode of obtaining either reliefer protection. As 
the only alternative, the magistrates of Brooklyn, Flatbush and 
Flatlands, united in forming a military company against "ro6- 
htrs and 'pirates^'' and established a patrole hi each vilhige, 
April 7, 1654. On the day following, the governor issued his 
proclamation against certain robbers, whom he states " had 
been banished from Now England, and were wandering about 
on Long Island." 

In the same year the governor refused to confirm the elec- 
tion of Baxter and Hubbard, who had been chosen magistrates 



84 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

for Gravesend; although they were among the onguial paten- 
tees of the town, had often previously been elected to the office 
of magistrate, and enjoyed the highest confidence of their fel- 
low-citizens in every situation. 

The rejection of these gentlemen excited so great a ferment 
in Gravesend, that the governor found it necessary to go there 
personally to appease it. It is stated in the records of Novem- 
ber 23d, 1654, that the Governor went to Gravesend, and to 
effect his purpose was obliged to avail himself of the influence 
of Lady Moody, a connection of Sir Henry Moody, and one of 
the original patentees of that town. He conceded the nomina- 
tion of the magistrates for that year to her ; and her popularity 
reconciled the people to so extraordinary a measure, and pro- 
duced submission to the arbitrary act of his Excellency. 

Of Governor Stuyvesant, it is observed by Judge Benson, 
" That he was of the profession of arms, and had lost a leg in the 
service, which was supplied by one of wood. His skill and 
experience must have been very useful to him, as he was in- 
cessantly vexed with the marauding clans of the Mohegan fa- 
mily upon his New England possessions. He was in great 
difficulty with the Swedes on the Delaware ; and his neigh- 
bors on the Connecticut River were also a great source of trou- 
ble and perplexity, hi fine," says the Judge, " the whole of his 
duties and his character being considered, it may be questioned 
whether the chief magistracy among us has ever been confided 
to an individual of greater worth." 

In consequence of disputes between the English and Dutch 
about the boundaries of their respective territories, commission- 
ers from both, met at Hartford, September 19, 1650, and agreed, 
among other things, as follows : — " l^hat upon Long Island a 
line run from the westernmost part of Oyster Bay, and so in a 
straight and direct line to the sea, shall be the bounds between 
the English and Dutch there ; the easterly part to belong to 
the English, and the westernmost part to the Dutch." This 
instrument will be found at length in our Appendix. In pur- 
suance of this determination, it was further ordered " At a ses- 
sion of the General Assembly at Hartford, March 10, 1663: — 
^V^ "This Court have voted Mr. Wyllys and Mr. Matthew Al- 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 85 

lyn to go over to Long Island, to settle government on the west 
end of the island, according to the agreement at Hempstead in 
February last ; and those gentlemen are desired to issue the 
matter tvvixt J. Scott and Bloomer ; and they are further de- 
sired to take in with them the assistance of the commissioners 
in those towns, for tiie regulating of any disturbances, as occa- 
sion is presented, 

" A true copy from the public records of the Colony of 
Connecticut. Examijied this 8th of August, 1G64, by 

" George Wyllys, Secretary.''^ 

The government of Connecticut, after the receipt of their 
charter in 1662, asserted their right to the whole of Long Is- 
land, as appears by the proceedings, of which the following is a 
copy. 

" At a General Assembly held at Hartford, May the 12th, 1664, 
for election, 

" Whereas, his Majesty hath been graciously pleased to con- 
firm unto this colony, by charter, all that part of his dominions 
in New England, bounded, as in the said charter is expressed, 
with the islands adjoining. 

" This Court doth declare, that they claim Long Island for one 
of those adjoining islands, expressed in the charter, except a 
precedent right doth appear, approved by his Majesty. 

" This Court doth desire and request the worshipful governor, 
Mr. Matthew AUyn, Mr. Wyllys, and Captain Youngs, to go 
over to Long Island, and to settle the English plantations on 
the island under this government, according to instructions 
given them. 

" The aforesaid committee are hereby authorized to erect and 
constitute quarter Courts, or appoint other fit seasons for the 
keeping of court for the administration of justice, that all cases 
may be tried according to law, (life, limbs, and banishment ex- 
cepted,) and to do their endeavors so to settle matters, that the 
people may be both civilly, peaceably, and religiously governed 
in the English plantations, so as they may win the heathen to 
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by their 
sober and religious conversation, as his Majesty our Lord and 
King requires in his gracious letters patent, granted to his sub- 



^^ HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



jGcts here, in this colony ; and in case of crimes of a capital na- 
tnre, they are to have liberty to take the opportunity of the 
Courts ofFairtield or Hartford; the like liberty they have in 
case of review. They may also give oath to tiiose who are ac- 
cepted by this Court for freemen on the island, and to do what 
else they judge may conduce for the good of the colony. 

" A true copy from the public records of the colony of 
Connecticut. Examined this Sth day of August, 
^^^^'^' ^'y Gkorge Wyllys, Secretanj/' 

The commissioners accordingly came upon the island in 
June, 1G64, organized Courts in some of the towns, estabhshed 
rules tor the collection of rates, .tc. ; but these arrangements 
were frustrated almost immediately by the arrival of the En- 
glish and the conquest of New- York, whereby Lono- Island 
was annexed to the possessions of the Duke of Yorkf This 
event was not altogether unexpected ; for on the 1st of Novem- 
ber, 1G03, the governor of New Netherlands, apprehendiiio- that 
the English designed to invade the Dutch territories, conven- 
ed a meetmg of the magistrates of most of the towns at New 
Amsterdam; this meeting was composed of the magistrates of 
New Amsterdatn, llenselaerwyck, Beverwyck, Ilarlaem, Ber- 
gen, Staten Island, Flatlands, Flatbush, Brooklyn, Utrecht 
and Bushwick; but they adjourned without eltecting any 
tning. The Dutch government, by its oppressions, had become 
generally unpopular ; even the Dutch inhabitants were dis- 
gusted with the administration, and the English were, of course 
extremely anxious for a change. ' 

The English towns under^ the Dutch jurisdiction had loner 
determined on the first opportunity to withdraw themselve? 
from their authority. They had held a meeting at Hempstead 
during the wmter, and agreed to put themselves under Con- 
necticut, as soaie of the eastern towns had already done ; and 
m consequence of these proceedings being made known to the 
government of Connecticut, the General Assembly of that col- 
ony, on the 10th of March, I6G3, appointed two commissioners 
" to go to Long Island to settle the government on the west 
end of the island, as above stated." "The English," says 
Smith, « were every day encroaching upon the Dutch." The 



THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. 87 

following copy of a letter from Governor Stuyvesant to the 
West India Company, July 21, 1661, shows the state of things 
at that time : 

" Wo have not, (says he) yet beg^n the fort on Long Island, 
near Oyster Bay, because our neighbors lay the boundaries a 
mile and a half more westerly than we do ; and the more as 
your Honors, by your advice of Dec. 24th, are not inclined to 
stand by the treaty of Hartford, and propose to sue for redress 
on Long Island and the fresh water river, by means of the 
States' ambassador. 

" Lord Stirling is said to solicit a confirmation of his right to 
all Long Island, and importunes the present king to confirm 
the grant made by his royal father, which is aflirmed to be al- 
ready obtained. We have advdce from England that there is 
an invasion intended against these parts, and the country so- 
licited of the king, Ihe duke, and the parliament, is to be an- 
nexed to their dominion. And for that purpose they desire 
three or four frigates, persuading the king that the Company 
possessed and held this country under an unlawful title, having 
only obtained of King James leave for a watering-place on Sta- 
ten Island in 1623." 

In November, 1663, the English inhabitants convened at 
Jamaica to concert measures of relief from the oppression of 
the crovernor and council. The number assembled on that 
interesting occasion was so great, that the government did not 
think it advisable to attempt either to interrupt their proceed- 
ings or to disperse the meeting by force. 

CLAIMS OF THE ENGLISH TO LONG ISLAND, AND THE 
CONQUEST OF NEW-YORK. 

King Charles the First, on the 22d day of April, 1636, 
made a request of the corporation for New England, called 
the Plymouth Company, to whom a charter had been granted 
by King James the First in 1620, to issue their patent to Wil- 
liam Alexander, Earl of Stirling, for Long Island and the islands 
adjacent. This request of his Majesty was assented to by the 
Company, and a grant or patent issued accordingly. The Earl 
gave a power of attorney to James Farret on the 20th day of 



S8 I HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND, 

April, 1637; thereby constituting and appointing him as his 
agent to manage and dispose of the lands thus conveyed to him 
by the Plymouth Company, The Earl of Stirling was a na- 
tive of Scotland, where he was born in 1580, and was knighted 
by James VI. of Scotland and 1st of tingland in 1614. He 
obtained letters patent for Nova Scotia in 1620, and was creat- 
ed secretary of state for Scotland in 1626, He was made a peer 
of Scotland in 1630, and Earl of Stirling in 1636, His death 
took place in 1640. The title thus acquired to Long Island 
was subsequently relinquished by his grandson, either to the 
crown or to the Duke of York, previous to the grant of Charles 
the Second in 1664, and in which the territory of Long Island 
was included in express words, as will hereafter appear. 
The power of attorney from the Earl of Stirling to his agent, 
after reciting the issuing of the patent to him as aforesaid, and 
stating that he was desirous of improving the lands granted to 
him, and had, therefore, appointed the said James Farretto be his 
attorney and agent, to take possession of the said islands, and to 
plant and improve the same, proceeds as follows : — 

"I, the said William, Earl of Stirling, do hereby empower 
and authorise for me, my heirs, executors, and administrators, 
and for every of us, to let, set, mortgage, sell, or by any other 
way or means, for a present sum or sums of money, or for 
yearly rent, to dispose of the said islands, or any of them, or 
parts of them, for such time or times, term or terms of years, for 
life or lives, or for ever in fee, as my said attorney or agent shall 
judge most probably conducing to my profit and behalf, and to 
the ends before specified. And after one or more plantations, or 
colonies, or people, shall be there in any or all of the aforesaid 
islands settled, to continue, erect, and establish such honest and 
wholesome orders and ordinances among-st and for the benefit 
of the said planters and colonies, as shall be judged, together 
with and upon the advice of the right worshipful John Win- 
throp. Esquire, Governor of Boston Colony, in the said New 
England, most tending to the preservation of the public peace, 
the improvement of trade and commerce, and the due exe- 
cution of justice in obedience to the laws of God, and as much 
as may be agreeable to the laws of England." The said James 



CLAIMS OF THE ENGLISH. 89 

Farret was further authorized and permitted, by the said pow- 
er of attorney, to take up and dispose of for his own use 
twelve thousand acres upon Long Island or the islands adja- 
cent. In consequence of which he afterwards made choice of 
Shelter Island and Robin's Island in Peconic Bay, which, as 
will be seen, he sold to Stephen Goodyeare of New Haven on 
the 18th of May, 1641. The colony of Connecticut, after the 
reception of their charter in 1662, asserted a claim to Long 
Island under the clause of the charter which annexed to that 
colony the " islands adjacent." And the assembly at Hartford, 
on the 12th of May, 1664, formally resolved that it belonged to 
their jurisdiction, and appointed the governor and two other 
persons to " come upon the island in that behalf, to establish 
quarter courts and other courts for the administration of justice, 
provided their judgments should not extend to life, limb, or ba- 
nishment ;" and all capital cases were ordered to be tried at Fair- 
field or Hartford. The commissioners thus appointed came 
upon the island, and convened a meeting at Setauket in the sum- 
mer of 1664, made a few decisions upon disputed claims among 
the inhabitants, and took some further measures in the execu- 
tion of their delegated powers. The final arrangements were 
for some cause delayed, and were eventually frustrated by 
the arrival of Colonel Richard Nicolls in August, 1664, with 
a considerable naval force to take possession of New Amster- 
dam, in pursuance of an extensive grant of territory, made the 
12th of March preceding, by King Charles II. to his brother 
James, Duke of York and Albany, and the consequent surren- 
der of the city by the Dutch. The country included in this 
grant is thus described : 

" All that part of the main land of New England, beginning 
at a certain place called or known by the name of St. Croix, 
adjoining to Nova Scotia in America, and thence extending 
along the sea-coast unto a certain place called Pemaquire or 
Pemaquid, and so up the river thereof to the furthest head of 
the same as it tendeth to the northward ; and extending from 
thence to the river Kenebeque, and so upwards by the shortest 
course to the river of Canada northward ; and also all that 
island or islands commonly called by the several name or names 

12 



90 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

of Meitowacks, or Lono: Island, situate, lying, and being towards 
the west of Cape Cod and the Narrow-Higansetts, abutting upon 
the main land between the two rivers, there called or known 
by the several names of Connecticut and Hudson's river. To- 
gether also with the said river called Hudson's, and all the land 
from the west side of Connecticut to the east side of Delaware 
Bay ; and also all those several islands called or known by the 
namesof Martin's Vineyard andNantuck's, otherwise Nantucket, 
together with all," &c. " To be holden of us, our heirs and suc- 
cessors, as of our manor of East Greenwich in our county of 
Kent, in free and common soccage, and not in capite, nor by 
knight service yielding and rendering ; and the said James, Duke 
of York, doth for himself, his heirs and assigns, covenant and 
promise to yield and render unto us, our heirs and successors, 
of and for the same yearly, and every yearfoi'ti/ beaver skins 
when they shall be demanded, or within ninety days thereafter. 
And we do further give and grant unto our dearest bro- 
ther James, Duke of York, his heirs, &.C., full and absolute 
power and authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern and 
rule, all such subjects of us, our heirs and successors, as shall 
from time to time adventure themselves into any of these parts 
or places aforesaid, or that shall or do at any time hereafter in- 
habit within the same ; as well in all cases or matters capital 
and criminal, as civil, both marine and others, so as the said pro- 
ceedings be not contrary to, but as near as conveniently maybe, 
agreeable to the laws, statutes, and government of this our 
realm of England ; and saving and reserving to us, our heirs and 
successors, the receiving, hearing, and determining of the ap- 
peal and appeals of all or any person or persons of, in, or be- 
longing to the territories or islands aforesaid, in or touching any 
judgment or sentence to be there made or given ; and we do 
also for us, our heirs and successors, grant to our dearest bro- 
ther James, Duke jof York, his heirs and assigns, and to all 
and every such governor and governors, or any other officers or 
ministers, as by our said brother, his heirs or assigns, shall be 
appointed to have power and authority of government and com- 
mand, in or over the inhabitants of the said territories or 
islands. 



CLAIMS OF THE ENGLISH. ' 91 

" Witness oiirself at Westminster, the 12th day of March, in 
the sixteenth year of our reign. By the King. 

"Howard." 

Immediately upon receiving this patent, the Duke of Yoric 
constituted and commissioned Richard Nicolls, Esq. Deputy 
Governor of the colony ; and Robert Carr, George Cartwright, 
and Samuel Maverick, were joined with him as commissioners to 
demand and take possession of the country. 

The Dutch inhabitants, by the vigilance of their governor, 
were not ignorant of the designs of the English court ; for their 
records state, 'that on the 8th of July, 1664, intelligence was re- 
ceived from one Thomas Willet, an Englishman, that an ex- 
pedition was preparing in England against the city of New 
Amsterdam, consisting of two frigates of forty and fifty guns, 
and a fly-boat of forty guns, having on board three hundred 
soldiers, and each frigate one hundred and fifty men ; and that 
they lay at Portsmouth waiting for a wind. News arrived also, 
from Boston, that they had already sailed. 

The burgomasters were therefore called together, the fort 
ordered to be put in a posture of defence, and spies were sent to 
Milford and Westchester for intelligence. Boston was in the 
secret ; for the court of Massachusetts had, in May preceding, or- 
dered a supply of necessaries for the use of the ships on their 
arrival. The ships were four in number, one of which was 
called the Guerney. It was intended to rendezvous at Gardi- 
ner's Island in the Sound, but they parted in a fog about the 20th 
of July. The new governor and Sir George Cartwright were 
on board the Guerney, and fell in first with Cape Cod. The 
other ships, with Sir Robert Carr and Samuel Maverick, (com- 
missioners.) were rightly concluded to be driven to the east- 
ward. After dispatching a letter to Governor Winthrop of 
Connecticut, requesting his assistance. Colonel Nicolls proceed- 
ed to Boston. The other ships got into Piscataway. John 
Endicot was then governor of Boston, but old, and incapable of 
business. On the 27th of July the commissioners made a for- 
mal request in writing, " That the governor of Boston would 
pass an act to furnish them with armed men, who should be- 
gin their march to the Manhattans on the 20th of August en- 



92 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



suing ; and promisod that if they could jjct other assistance, 
they would give them an account of it." This application was 
without success, and perhaps (as Smith says) from their disaf- 
fection to the Stuart family, by whose persecutions the inha- 
bitants had been driven from Europe. 

One of the sliips entered the Bay of New- York several days 
before the others, and as soon as they were come up, Governor 
Stuyvesant sent a letter, dated August 19th, 1664, directed to 
the commanders of the English frigates, by John Declyer, one 
of the chief council, the Rev. John Megapolensis, minister, 
Paul Lunder Yander Grilft, and Mr. Samuel Megapolensis, 
Doctor in Physic, with the utmost civility, to desire the reason 
of their approach, and continuing in the harbor without giv- 
Sng notice, as they ought to have done. Colonel Nicolls an- 
swered the next day with a summons as follows : — 

"To the Honorable the Governor and chief council at the 
Manhattans. 

" Right worthy Sirs, 

"I received a letter by some worthy persons intrusted by you, 
bearing date the 19th of August, desiring to know the intent of 
the approach of the English frigates ; in return of which, I 
think it fit to let you know that his Majesty of Great Britain, 
whose right and title to these parts of America is unquestion- 
able, well knowing how much it derogates from his crown and 
dignity to suflerany foreigners, how near soever they be allied, 
to ursurp a dominion, and without his Majesty's royal consent 
to inherit in these, or any other of his Majesty's territories, 
hath commanded me, in his name, to require a surrender of all 
such forts, towns, or places of strength, wiiich are now possess- 
ed by the Dutch under your command ; and in his Majesty's 
name 1 do demand the town, situate on the island, commonly 
Known by the name of Manhattoes, with all the forts thereunto 
belonging, to be rendered unto his Majesty's obedience and pro- 
tection, into my hands. I am further commanded to assure you, 
and every respective inhabitant of the Dutch nation, that his 
Majesty being tender of the eftusion of Christian blood, doth by 
these presents confirm and secure to every man his estate, life, 
and liberty, who shall readily submit to his government. And 



CLAIMS OF THE ENGLISH. 93 

all those who shall oppose his Majesty's gracious intention, 
must expect all the miseries of a war, which they bring upon 
themselves, I shall expect your answer by these gentleruen, 
George Cartwright. one of his Majesty's commissioners in 
America, Captain Robert Needham, Captain Edward Groves, 
and Mr. Thomas Delavall, whom you will entertain with such 
civility as is due to them, and yourselves and yours shall re- 
ceive the same from, 

« Worthy Sirs, 

"Your very humble Servant, 
" Dated on board his Majesty's ^ " Richard N icolls." 

ship the Guerney, riding 

before Nayack, the 20th of f 

Aug. 1664." J 

Governor Stuyvesant promised an answer to the summons 
the next morning, and in the meantime convened the council 
and burgomasters. The Dutch governor was a good soldier, 
(says Smith,) and had lost a leg in the service of the Slates. 
He would willingly have made a defence ; and refused a sight 
of the summons both to the inhabitants and burgomasters, lest 
the easy terms ofiered might induce them to capitulate. The 
latter, however, insisted upon a copy, that they might com- 
comnriunicate it to the late magistrates and principal burghers. 
They called together the inhabitants at the Stadt-house, and 
acquainted them with the governor's refusal. Governor Win- 
throp, at the same time, wrote to the governor and his council, 
strongly recommending a surrender. On the 22d of August 
the burgomasters came into the council, and desired to know 
the contents of the English message from Governor Winthrop, 
which Stuyvesant still refused. They continued their impor- 
tunity ; and he, in a fit of anger, tore it to pieces ; upon which 
they protested against the act and all its consequences. Deter- 
mined upon a defence of the country, Stuyvesant wrote a letter 
in answer to the summons ; in which he fully denied the right 
of his Majesty, the King of England, to the territory ; and set- 
ting forth the reasons why the title was in the Lords, the 
States-General. That by virtue of a grant and commission 
given by the said Lords and mighty Stales-General to the 



94 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

West India Company, in the year 1621. with as much power, 
and as autlientic, as his said Majesty of England hath given 
or can give to any colony in America, as more fully appears 
by the patent of the said Lords, the States- General, by 
them signed, registered, and sealed with their great seal, and 
shown to the deputies ; by which commission and patent to- 
gether, and by divers letters, signed and sealed by the said Lords, 
the States-General, directed to several persons, both English and 
Dutch, inhabiting the towns and villages on Long Island, by 
which they are declared and acknowledged to be their subjects, 
which makes it appear more clear than the sun at noon-dayj 
that the claim of England is absolutely to be denied. 

" Moreover, (says the governor,) it is without dispute, and ac- 
knowledged by the world, that our predecessors, by virtue of the 
commission and patent of the said Lords, the States-General, 
have, and without control and peaceably (the contrary never com- 
ing to our knowledge), enjoyed Fort Orange about forty-eight or 
fifty years ; the Manhattans forty-one or forty-two years ; the 
SouthRiver forty years; and the Fresh-Water River aboutthirty- 
six years. And that though the governors and commissioners of 
his Majesty had often quarrelled about the bounds of the Dutch 
possesssions, yet they never questioned their jurisdiction itself. 
On the contrary, in the year 1650, at Hartford, and the year 
before at Boston, they treated upon the subject; which is a suffi- 
cient proof, that had his Majesty been well informed, he never 
would have given a commission to molest and endamage the 
subjects of the Lords, the States-General ; and less that his sub- 
jects would attempt any acts of hostility against them. Con- 
sequently, if his said Majesty were well informed of all that 
could be spoken upon this subject, he would not approve of 
what expressions were mentioned in your letter. And in case 
that you will act by force of arms, we protest and declare, in the 
name of our said Lords, the States-General, before God and 
Men, that you will act an unjust violence, and a breach of the 
articles of peace, so solemnly sworn, agreed upon, and ratified 
by his Majesty of England and my Lords the States- General ; 
and the rather, for that to prevent the shedding of blood in the 
month of February last we treated with Captani John Scott, 



CLAIMS OF THE r.NGLISH, 95 

(who reported he had a commission from his Majesty,) touch- 
ing the hmits of Long Island, and concluded for the space of a 
year. As touching the threats in your conclusion, we have 
nothing to answer, only that we fear nothing but what God 
(who is as just as merciful) shall lay upon us, all things being 
in his gracious disposal ; and we may as well be preserved by 
him with small forces as by a great army. 

"My Lords, your thrice humble and affectionate Servant, and 
Friend, Peter Stuyvesant," 

"Atthefortat Amsterdam, the "] ^ 

2d of September, new style, j- 

1664." J 

While the Dutch governor and his council were contending 
with the burgomasters and people in the city, the English com- 
missioners puhlished a proclamation to the inhabitants of Long 
Island, encouraging them to submit, and promising them the 
king's protection and all the privileges of subjects. How far 
this flattering promise was fulfilled, will appear from the pro- 
ceedings that afterwards took place at Hempstead, when a code 
of laws for the colony was published; by which it turned out 
that, so far from enjoying the privileges of British subjects, they 
were entirely excluded from the benefits of an assembly, or the 
right of choosing any one to represent them in the government. 
This proclamation was as follows : — 

" By his Majesty's command. Forasmuch as his Majesty 
hath sent us by commission, under his great seal of England, 
amongst other things to expel or to receive to his Majesty's 
obedience all such foreigners as have, without his Majesty's 
leave and consent, seated themselves amongst any of his do- 
minions in America, to the prejudice of his Majesty's subjects 
and the diminution of his royal dignity ; we, his Majesty's com- 
missioners, declare and promise, that whoever, of what na- 
tion soever, will, upon knowledge of this proclamation, acknow- 
ledge and testify themselves to submit to this his Majesty's go- 
vernment, as his good subjects, shall be protected in his Majes- 
ty's laws and justice, and peaceably enjoy whatsoever God's 
blessing and their honest industry have furnished them with, 
and all other privileges with his Majesty's English subjects. 



96 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

We have caused this to be published, that we might prevent all 
inconveniences to others, if it were possible ; however, to clear 
ourselves from the charcre of all those miseries that may any 
way betall such as live here, and will not acknowledge his 
Majesty for their sovereign, whom God preserve. 
" In his Majesty's frigate ] Richard Nicolls, 

the Guerney, August }• Robert Carr, 

20, 1664. J George Cartwright, 

Samuel Maverick." . 
As soon as it \vas ascertained by Stuyvesant's letter that he 
was averse to surrender, otficers were sent to obtain volunteers 
in the western towns on liOng Island as far as Jamaica and 
Hempstead. And preparations were also made by the ship- 
ping for an attack upon Fort Amsterdam. These movements, 
and probably urged likewise by those around liim, induced 
Stuyvesant to write again to Col. Nicolls on the 25th of Au- 
gust, wherein, though he declares that he would stand the 
storm, yet, to prevent the spilling of blood, he had sent John 
De Decker, councillor of state; Cornelius Van Ruyven, Secre- 
tary ; Cornelius Steenwyck, Major ; and James Cousseau, She- 
riff; to consult, if possible, of an accommodation. Nicolls, who 
by this time knew the dispositions and wishes of the people, an- 
swered immediately, from Gravesend,that he would treat about 
nothing but a surrender. The Dutch governor next day, tha, 
26th, agreed to a treaty and surrender, on condition the En- 
glish and Dutch limits were settled by the Crown and the States- 
General. 

The English deputies were Sir Robert Carr, George Cart- 
wright, John Winthrop, the governor of Connecticut, Samuel 
"VVyllys, one of the assistants or council of that colony, and 
Thomas Clarke and John Pynchon, commissioners from the 
General Court of Massachusetts Bay. Whatever these persons 
should agree upon, Nicolls promised to ratify. At eight o'clock 
in the morning of the 27th of August, 1664, the commissioners 
on both sides met at the governor's farm (or Bowery,) where the 
articles of capitulation were signed. These articles were twen- 
ty-three in number, and were so framed as to protect the in- 
habitants in their rights, civil and religious, as citizens of the 



CLAIMS OF THE ENGLISH. 97 

new government, to remove or remain at their pleasure, and to 
carry on trade and commerce as British subjects : the ports to 
be open to the Dutch vessels for six months ; public writings 
and documents to be carefully preserved. All persons in office 
to remain therein till the time of a new election ; previous dif- 
ferences and contracts to be determined according to the man- 
ner of the Dutch ; the officers, military, and soldiers, to march 
out with their arms, druriis beating, colors flying, and with 
lighted matches ; and those disposed to continue in the coun- 
try, to have fifty acres of land set out for them. 

Favorable, however, as these articles were to the inhabitants, 
the Dutch governor refused to ratify them until two days after 
they were signed by the commissioners. 

Governor Winthrop, on seeing the letters patent to the 
Duke of York, informed the English on Long Island that Con- 
necticut had no longer any claims to the island ; that what 
they had done was for the welfare, peace, and quiet settlement 
of his Majesty's subjects, as they were the nearest organized 
government to them under his Majesty. But now that his 
Majesty's pleasure was fully signified by his letters patent, their 
jurisdiction ceased and became null. 

The following is the conclusion of the commissioners on the 
subject of Long Island : — 

The determination of his Majesty's commissioners relative 
to the boundaries of his Royal Highness the Duke of York's 
patent, and of the patent of Connecticut, November 30th, 
1644. 

By virtue of his Majesty's commission, we haveheard the diffe- 
rence about the bounds of the patents granted to his Royal High- 
ness the Duke of York, and his Majesty's colony of Connecti- 
cut ; and having deliberately considered all the reasons alleg- 
ed by Mr. Allen, senior, Mr. Gould, Mr. Richards, and Captain 
Winthrop, appointed by the assembly held at Hartford the 13th 
day of October, 1664, to accompany John Winthrop, Esq., the 
governor of his Majesty's colony of Connecticut to New-York, 
and by Mr. Howell and Captain Youngs of Long Island, why the 
said Longlsland shouldbeunderthegovernmentof Connecticut, 
which are too long to be recited. We do declare and order, that 

13 



98 HTSTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

the soiUliern bounds of his Majesty's colony of Connecticut is the 
sea, and that Long Island is to be under the government of his 
Royal Highness the Duke of York, as is expressed byplain words 
in the said patents respectively, and also by virtue of his Majesty's 
commission, and by the consent of both the governor and the 
gentlemen above named ; we also order and declare that the 
creek or river called Mamoroneck, which is reputed to be about 
twelve miles to the east of Westchester, and a line drawn from 
the east point or side where the fresh water falls into the salt, 
at high- water mark, N. N. W. to the line of the Massachusetts' 
be the western bounds of the said colony of Connecticut, and 
the plantations lying westward of that creek and line so drawn, 
to be under his Royal Highness's government ; and all planta- 
tions lying eastward of that creek and line to be under the 
government of Connecticut. 

Given under our hands at Fort James, New- York, on Man- 
hattan Island, this 30th day of Nov. 1664. 

Richard Nicolls, 
George Cartwright, 
Samuel Mavericic. 
We, underwritten, on behalf of the colony of Connecticut, 
have assented unto this determination of his Majesty's commis- 
sioners in relation to the bounds and limits of his Royal Hio-h- 
ness the Duke's patent, and the patent of Connecticut. 

John Winthrop, 
Matthew Allen, 
Nathan Goull., 
James Richards. 
Governor Stuyvesant retained his large real estate upon the 
Island of New- York. He made a visit to Holland the year fol- 
lowing, but returned soon after, and finally died at New- York 
Judge Benson says that he came from Brazil, and that he lost 
his leg in the attack upon the Island of Tobago. That he 
was an honest and brave man is certain ; and his"posterity here 
are among the most wealthy and respected of our fellow-ci- 
tizens. 

the colonial government. 
Governor Nicolls having thus peaceably obtained possession 



THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 90 

of the country, and about to lay the foundations of his future 
government, it was determined to change the name of the co- 
lony ; and in compliment to the Duke of York, to whom the 
country had been assigned, and to whom the governor was in- 
debted for his office, and authority, agreed to call it New-York ; 
and the city of New-Amsterdam, the city of New- York. It also 
became a matter of great and indispensable necessity that a 
system of civil regulations should be matured and adopted, 
both to constitute general rules of action, and to produce a more 
perfect uniformity among the different towns, in some of which 
the English and in others the Dutch municipal law prevailed. 
Accordingly a meeting of delegates being convened at Hemp- 
stead, as will appear hereafter, for the purpose of adjusting any 
conflicting claims to lands, and settling the boundaries of the 
several towns, the deputies that attended were so highly grati- 
fied with the interview with the governor, and with the infor- 
mation imparted by him as to the liberal views and intentions 
of the Duke of York, that they drew up and signed an address 
full of gratitude and loyalty ; but which, as soon as their con- 
stituents found they were to have no choice in the selection of 
magistrates, or a share in legislation, they manifested their dis- 
approbation, and censured the deputies with so much severity, 
that the civil authorities thought it necessary to interfere ; and 
accordingly, at a court of Assize, held in October, 1666, it was 
resolved that whoever thereafter should any way detract or 
speak against any of the deputies signing the address to his 
Royal Highness at the general meeting at Hempstead, should be 
presented to the next Court of Sessions ; and if the justices should 
see cause, they should thence be bound over to the Assizes, 
there to answer for the slander upon plaint or information. 
This address, which excited so much uneasiness among the 
people, is well worthy of attention ; a copy of which, with the 
names of those who signed it, is here presented :— 

To His Royal Highness, the Duke of York. 

March 1, 1665. 

We, the deputies duly elected from the several towns upon 
Lono- Island, being assembled at Hempstead, in general meeting, 



^^^ HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



by authority derived from your royal Higliness under the Hoti- 
orable Colonel Nicolls as deputy governor, do most humbly 
and thankfully acknowledge to your royal Highness the great 
Honor and satisfaction we receive in our dependence upon your 
royal Highness according to the tenor of his sacred Maiesty's 
patent, granted the 12th day of March, 1664; wherein we 
acknowledge ourselves, our heirs and successors forever to be 
comprised to all intents and purposes, as therein is more at 
large expressed. And we do publicly and unanimously de- 
clare our cheerful submission to all such laws, statutes, and 
ordinances, which are or shall be made by virtue of authority 
from your royal Highness, your heirs and successors forever : 
As also, that we will maintain, uphold, and defend, to the 
utmost of our power, and peril of us, our heirs and successors 
forever, all the rights, title, and interest, granted by his sacred 
Majesty to your royal Highness, against all pretensions or inva- 
sions, foreign and domestic ; we being already well assured, 
that m so doing we perform our duty of allegiance to his Ma- 
jesty, as freeborn subjects of the kingdom of England inhabiting 
in these his Majesty's dominions. We do farther beseech your 
royal Highness to accept of this address, as the first fruits in 
this general meeting, for a memorial and record against us, our 
heirs and successors, when we, or any of them, shall fail in 
our duties. Lastly, we beseech your royal Highness to take 
our poverties and necessities, in this wilderness country, into 
speedy consideration ; that, by constant supplies of trade and 
your royal Highness's more particular countenance of grace to 
us, and protection of us, we may daily more and more be 
encouraged to bestow our labors to the improvement of these 
his Majesty's western dominions, under your royal Highness • 
for whose health, long life, and eternal happiness, we shall ever' 
pray, as in duty bound. 

For New-Utrecht, Jaques Cortelleau, Younger Hope 

Grayesend, James Hubbard, John Bowne 

F at ands, Elbert Elbertsen, Roeloffe Martense. 

Flatbush John Striker, Hendrick Gucksen. 

Bnshwick, John Stealman, Gisbert Tunis 

Brooklyn, Hendrick Lubbertsen, John Evertsen, 



(t 



^ 



TKE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 



101 



ti 



For Newtown, 
Flushing, 
Jamaica, 
Hempstead, 
Oyster Bay, 
Huntington, 
Brookhaven, 
Southold, 



u 



(( 



Richard Betts, 
Elias Doughty, 
Daniel Denton^ 
John Hicks, 
Jolui Underhill, 
Jonas Wood, 



ii 



a 



Daniel Lane, 
William Wells, — ^ 
Southampton, Thomas Topping, 
Easthampton, Thomas Baker, 
Westchester, Edward Jessup, 



John Coe. 
Richard Cornhill. 
Thomas Benedict. 
Robert Jackson. 
Matthias Harvey. 
John Ketcham.,,^ 
Roger Barton. 
John Youngs. 
John Howell. 
John Stratton. 
John Q,uinby. 



At this meeting was also promulgated a body of laws and 
ordinances for the future government of the province, com- 
monly called, by way of distinction, the " Duke's Laws," a copy 
of which was furnished to the deputies, and filed in the clerks' 
offices of the different counties, v;-Iiere some of them remain to 
this time. Of this code we have prepared an analysis, which, 
it is presumed, embraces the principal features thereof in a 
condensed form. 

All actions of debt, account, slander, and actions on the case 
concerning debts and accounts to be tried within the jurisdiction 
where the cause of action arose. Debts and trespasses under 
five pounds to be arbitrated, and if either party refuse, the justice 
to choose arbitrators, whose award to be final. All actions or 
cases from five to twenty pounds to be tried at the sessions, from 
whence there should be no appeal. Any person falsely pretend- 
ing greater damages or debts than are due, to vex his adversary, 
to pay treble damages. If the action be entered, and the parties 
compromise it, yet the agreement to be entered by the clerk 
of the court. Upon the death of any person, the constable 
and two overseers to repair to the house of deceased to inquire 
after the manner of the death, and whether he left any last will 
er testament. But no administration to be granted, except to 
the widow or child until the third session after the party's death. 
The surplus of the personal estate to be divided as follows : 
one third to the widow, and the other two thirds among the 
children, except that the eldest son shall have a double portion. 
All amercements and fines, not expressly regulated by law, to 



102 



HrSTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



be imposed at the discretion of the court. No justice of the 
peace, who hath set upon or voted in any cause, to have any 
voice in the court to which appeal is made. Parties appealing, 
to give security ; and in criminal cases they shall also give 
security for good behavior until the matter is decided. No 
arrest to be made on the Sabbath, or day of humiliation for the 
death of Charles the First, of blessed memory, or the anniversary 
of the restoration of Charles the Second. And all arrests, writs, 
warrants, and proclamations to be in the name of his Majesty. 
All assessments to be made by the constable and eight overseers 
of the parish, and justices of the peace to be exempt from 
assessments during their continuance in oiRce. 

To rebuke an officer with foul words, so that he depart 
through fear without doing his duty, shall be taken for an as- 
sault, and punished accordingly. No Christian shall keep a 
slave, except persons adjudged thereto by authority, or such as 
have willingly sold or shall sell themselves. Every town to 
set out its bounds within twelve months after they are granted 
and once in three years the ancientest town shall give notice to 
the neighboring towns to go the bounds betwixt their towns, 
and to renew their marks ; the time for preambulation to be 
between the 20th and last of February, under the penalty of 
five pounds for neglect thereof; and owners of adjoining 
lands to go the bounds betwixt their lands once a year, under 
penalty of ten shillings. No person to follow the business of 
brewing beer for sale but those skilled in the art. The name 
and sirname of every inhabitant in the several parishes to be 
registered; and the minister or town clerk shall record all 
marriages, births, and burials in a book to be provided by the 
church-wardens. No body to be buried, except in public pla- 
ces, and in the presence of three or four of the neighbors, one 
of whom shall be an overseer of the parish. Persons punish- 
able with death, are those who shall in any wise deny the true 
God or his attributes ; those who commit any wilful or preme- 
ditated murder ; he who slays another with a sword or dagger, 
that hath not any weapon to defend himself; those who lay in 
wait; poisoning, or any such wicked conspiracy ; lying with 
any brute beast, (and the beast to be burned) ; man-stealing ; 



THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 103 

taking away life by false and malicious testimony ; denying his 
Majesty's right and title to his crown or dominion, or resisting 
his authority by arms ; conspiracy against the public ; children 
above the age of sixteen, and of sufficient understanding, smit- 
ing their natural father or mother, unless in self-defence from 
maiming or death. 

Cattle and hogs to be marked with the public mark of the 
town and the private mark of the owner ; and horned cattle to 
be marked upon the horn. Every cause of five pounds or un- 
der to pay a tax of two shillings and sixpence ; if ten pounds, 
five shillings ; from ten to twenty pounds, ten shillings; and for 
every ten pounds more, two and sixpence. 

Whereas the public worship of God is much discredited for 
want oi painfull and able ministers to instruct the people in the 
true rehgion, it is ordered that a church shall be built in each 
parish capable of holding two hundred persons ; that ministers 
of every church shall preach every Sunday, and pray for the 
King, Q,ueen, Duke of York, and the Royal Family ; and to 
marry persons after legal publication or license. 

Sundays not to be profaned by travelling by laborers or vi- 
cious persons ; church- wardens to report twice a-year all misde- 
meanors, — such as swearing, profaneness, sabbath-breaking, 
drunkenness, fornication, adultery, and all such abominable 
sins. That no person employed about the bed of any man, wo- 
man, or child, as surgeon, midwife, physician, or other person, 
presume to exercise or put in practice any act contrary to the 
known approved rules of the art in each mystery or occupation. 
Courts of Sessions to begin in the east-riding first Tuesday of 
June ; the second Tuesday in the north-riding ; and the third 
Tuesday in the west-riding. The constable to whip or punish 
any one when no other ofiicer is appointed to do it. All sales 
and alienations of property to be by deed, and under hand and 
seal. No condemned person to be executed within four days 
after sentence, and the person executed to be buried near the 
place of execution. If any woman shall causelessly absent her- 
self from her husband, and uponcomplaintmade to a magistrate 
shall refuse to return, she shall forfeit her dower, unless the hus- 
band afterwards affirm the same. Every minister within his 



104 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



parish is enjoined to pray and preach on the anniversary of the 
deliverance from the "Gun-powder Treason," the fifth of No- 
vember, 1605 ; on the 30th day of January, to manifest detes- 
tation of the barbarous murder of Charles I. m 1649 ; and 
on the 29th of May, being the birth-day of Charles II. of 
blessed memory. 

If any person commit fornication with any single woman, 
they shall both be punished, either by enjoining marriage or 
corporal punishment at the discretion of the court. Persons 
guilty of perjury to stand in the pillory three several court 
days, and render double damages to any party injured thereby. 
Apprentices and servants absenting themselves from their mas- 
ters without leave, to serve double the time of such absence. 
Every town to have a marking or flesh-brand for horses. No 
ox, cow, or such like cattle, to be killed for sale or for private 
use without giving notice thereof to the town registrar. No 
person to be a common victualler, or keeper of a cook-shop 
or house of entertainment, without a certificate of his good be- 
havior from the constable and two overseers of the parish ; nor 
suffer any one to drink excessively in their houses after nine 
o'clock at night under the penalty of two shillings and six- 
pence. No purchase of land from the Indians shall be valid 
without a license from the governor,and the purchasershall bring 
the Sachem or right owner before him, to confess satisfaction. 
No one to sell, give, or barter, directly or indirectly, any gun, 
powder, bullet, shot, or any vessel of burden,, or row-boat (ca- 
noes excepted,) with any Indian, without permision of the go- 
vernor, under his hand and seal ; nor sell, truck, barter, give 
or deliver any strong liquor to an Indian, under penalty of 
forty shillings for one pint, and in proportion for any greater 
or lesser quantity ; except in case of sudden extremity, and 
then, not exceeding tioo drams. 

To be father, brother, uncle, nephew, or cousin-german to 
any party in a trial, shall exempt a juror from serving, if ob- 
ieclion be made before he is sworn, but not afterwards. No 
person to reveal the dissenting vote of a juror on arbitration, 
under the penalty of ten shillings. Every town, at its own ex- 
pense, shall provide a pair of stocks for offenders, and a pound 



THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 105 

for cattle, besides prisons and pillories in places where courts of 
sessions are held. The value of an Indian coat, to be given to 
any one who shall bring the head of a wolf to any constable 
upon Long Island, provided it be killed upon the island. 

The court of sessions in each county shall take the proof of 
wills, which, with the wills, are to be transmitted to the " office 
of records" at New- York, when the executors shall receive a 
copy thereof, with a certificate of its being allowed, attested 
under their seal of office. 

The town marks for horses upon Long Island shall be as fol- 
lows : for Easthampton, A ; Southampton, B ; Southold, C 
Seatalcot, D ; Huntington, E ; Oyster Bay, F ; Hempstead, G 
Jamaica, H ; Flushing, I ; Newtown, L ; Bushwiek, M 
Brooklyn. N ; Flatbush, O ; Flatlands, P ; New Utrecht, d 
and Gravesend, R, At this period the present town of River- 
head was included in Southold, and the town of North Hemp- 
stead, in Hempstead. 

These laws, with the alterations and additions made to them 
from time to time by the governor and council, continued to 
be the laws of the colony until October, 1683, when the first colo- 
nial legislature met, and the people were admitted, for a short 
time, to a share in the legislative power. The several towns 
were organized at the meeting at Hempstead, their bounds es- 
tablished, and the inhabitants required to take out new patents 
for the lands purchased within their limits. It was probably 
at the same time that the names of several towns were altered ; 
so that the town of Rustdorpe was to be called Jamaica ; Mid- 
wout was changed to Flatbush ; Amersfort to Flatlands ; Breuck- 
elen to Brookland ; Middleburgh to Newtown ; and Vlissengen 
to Flushing. At the same time the towns of Long Island, 
Staten Island, and as some think Westchester, were erected 
into a shire, called Yorkshire. This shire was divided into 
three parts, denominated Ridings, as follows : the towns of 
King's County, Staten Island, and Newtown, constituted the 
West Riding; the remaining towns of Queen's County, with 
perhaps Westchester, were called the North Riding ; while the 
towns in Suffolk County made up the East Riding of York- 
shire upon Long Island. 

14 



lOG HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND- 

This remarkable code, of which the above is a mere genefat 
sketch or outhne, is undoubtedly entitled to our sincere vene- 
ration, both on the account of the wisdom displayed by thefra- 
mers of it, for the many valuable principles which arecontained 
in it ; and also as a curious system of ancient legislation, to which 
our forefathers were compelled to yield obedience ; and as con- 
sisting also of many singular provisions, which were thought 
necessary at that time from the state of the country and the con- 
dition of its inhabitants. The system must be allowed to manifest 
more practical wisdom, and less of superstition and puerile absur- 
dity than the famous code which is reported once to have prevail- 
ed in Connecticut, and known, from the color of the paper upon 
which it was first printed, as the " Blue Laws." The Duke's 
laws were to operate in a new-settled country with a mixed 
population, composed of emigrants from various nations, and 
holding a great variety of opinions upon the subject of govern- 
ment ; it could hardly therefore have been expected, even by the 
framers of them, that all their multiplied provisions and restric- 
tions would be equally satisfactory to the whole population. 
It was probably the best which the then state of things admit- 
ted. Whether these laws were indeed compiled from the laws 
of the other English colonies which the governor had caused 
to be digested for the government of this province, or were 
drawn up in Great Britain by persons designated for the pur- 
pose ; certain it is that no set of men, however eminent for ta- 
lents, or deeply versed in the science and practice of English 
jurisprudence, could be expected entirely to succeed in framing 
such a body of rules, and of adapting them to the opinions and 
necessities of a people with whom they were unacquainted, 
and of numberless circumstances of a purely local nature. 
It was accordingly soon found expedient to introduce many al- 
terations and amendments, either to render them more accepta- 
ble to the people, or better suited to the peculiar exigencies of 
the times. The English towns which had been subject to the 
Dutch rejoiced at the change of affairs resulting from the con- 
quest, as they were thereby absolved from obedience to a go- 
vernment which they despised ; and the other English towns 
equally exulted at the prospect of being relieved from the con- 



THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 107 

Slant jealousy and ambition of a foreign power in their neigh- 
borhood. The eastern towns on Long Island, notwithstanding, 
would greatly have preferred to continue their former alliance 
with Connecticut, and therefore they submitted, with very 
general reluctance, to the separation. Some attempts were 
made to retain their connection, and they were renewed on 
more than one occasion thereafter. 

The English towns, as well those which had been settled 
tinder the Dutch as those associated with Connecticut, were au- 
thorized, from the proclamation of the commissioners at the con- 
quest, to expect that they should be admitted to the ordinary 
privileges and immunities of British subjects, to participate in 
the government, and have a voice in choosing representatives 
to a General Assembly, with power to make laws for the go- 
vernment of the colony. How great then must have been their 
astonishment as well as disappointment, when, on the promulr 
gation of the Duke's laws at the convention held at Hempstead, 
they found themselves deceived in their reasonable anticipa- 
tions, and that by the very government which had inspired 
them with hopes of enjoying very many civil and political 
advantages, of which they had before been deprived. It can- 
not, therefore, excite much surprise that the people should feel 
indignant at the servile submission of their deputies, contained 
in their address to the Duke of York, drawn up and signed by 
them at the meeting aforesaid. As the term " Riding" was 
introduced at the conquest, and occurs so frequently in the his- 
tory of the colony, some account of its origin and meaning 
seems necessary for the general reader. 

In Jacob's Law Dictionary it is mentioned that Riding is cor- 
rupted from the word Trithing, the name of a division of York- 
shire in England ; of which he says there are three, called the 
East, West, and North Ridings. In the statute of 22d Henry VIII, 
trithing, or trithing-reeve is defined the third part of a county, 
or three or more hundreds or warpentakes ; such are the 
Laths in Kent, the Rapes in Sussex, and the Ridings in York- 
shire. And those who governed these trithings were called 
Trithing-Reeves, before whom were brought all causes that 
could not be determined in the hundred or warpentake. The 



^^^ HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

term is also used sometimes for the court held within the cir- 
cuit of a triihin^, of the nature of a Court Leet, but inferior to 
the county court, to which causes might be removed from those 
courts. 

By an order of the governor and Court of Assize in 1675 
Staten Island was detached from Long Island, and permitted 
to have ajurisdiction of itself as a town; and in 1683 was 
erected into a separate county. Newtown continued attached 
to the west ridmg until the organization of the counties on 
Long Island by the first General Assembly in the same year, 
when It was made a part of the county of Queens. Previous 
to the convention at Hempstead in March, 1665, the followino- 
circular was addressed by his Excellency, Governor Nicolls, to 
the several towns on Long Island : 

" '^^^^"^^-ff'^rt in New- York, 8th February, I664. 
"Whereas the inhabitants of Long Island have for a lono- 
time groan'd under many grievous inconveniences and dil 
couragemts, occasioned partly from their subjection, partly 
from their opposition to a foreigne power, in which distracted 
condition few or no lawes could be put in due execution, bounds 
and titles to lauds disputed, civil libertyes interrupted, and, from 
this general confusion, private dissentions and animosityes have 
too much prevailed against neighbourly love and Christian 
charity. To the preventing of the future growth of the like 
evills, his Majesty, as a signall grace and honour to his subjects 
upon Long Island, hath, at his own charge, reduc't the forraio-ne 
power to his obedience, and by patent, hath invested His Royall 
Highnesse the Duke of Yorke ; I am deputed to put in execu- 
tion In discharge, therefore, of my trust and duty, to settle 
good and known lawes within this government for the future 
and receive yor best advice and informacon in a o-enaU meet 
mg : I have thought fit to publish unto yo", that upon the last- 
day of this present ifebruary, at Hempstead upon Long Island 
shall be a generall meeting, which is to consist of deputves 
chosen by the major part of the freemen only; which is to be 
understood of all persons rated according to their estates whe- 
ther English or Dutch, within your severall townes and pre- 
,cincts, whereof you are to make publication to the inhabitants 



THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 109 

foure dayes before yo" proceed to an election, appointing a cer- 
tain day for that purpose. You are further to impart to the 
inhabitants from mee, that I do heartily recommend to them 
the choice of the most sober, able, and discrete persons, without 
partiality or faction, the fruite and benefitt whereof will return 
to themselves, in a full and perfect composure of all controver- 
sies, and y« propagation of true religion amongst us. They are 
also required to bring w'^ ihem a draught of each towne limitts, 
or such writings as are necessary to evidence the bounds and 
limitts, as well as the right by which they challenge such 
bounds and limitts, by grants or purchases, or both — As also 
to give notice of their meeting to the Sachems of the Indians, 
whose presence may in some cases be necessary. Lastly, I do 
require you to assemble your inhabitants and read this letter to 
them, and then and there to nominate a day for the election of 
two deputyes from your towne, who are to bring a certificate 
of their election (w*^ full power to conclude any cause or mat- 
ter relating to their severall townes) to me at Hempstead, upon 
the last day of fFebruary, when (God willing) I shall expect 
them. Your assured friend, 

"To the magistrates of the ] " Richard Nicolls." 

severall townes upon \ 

Long Island." J 

The laws thus prepared having been published, and the se- 
veral towns recognized, with a few inconsiderable alterations 
as to their boundaries, they were thereupon required to take 
out new patents for the lands originally purchased from the na- 
tives. This request of the governor appeared somewhat plausi- 
ble, from the fact that a part of the county at least had passed 
from the Dutch to the English, and some of the towns, particu- 
larly in Suffolk, had never obtained any patents whatever. 
The governor appointed a high sheriff for the whole shire, 
and a deputy sheriff for each riding ; together with a requisite 
number of justices for the several towns. The high sheriff 
and deputies were appointed annually, but the justices held for 
an indefinite period at the governor's pleasure. In 1666 the 
office of deputy was abolished, and in 1683 that of high sheriff 



110 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

was discontinued, and a sheriff afterwards appointed for each 
county. 

These laws authorized the several towns annually, on the 
first or second day of April, to elect a constable, at first 
eight, and by a subsequent amendment, four overseers ; who 
were the assessors of the town, and with the constable were 
empowered to make regulations respecting matters which 
concerned the police, and good government of the town. The 
constable and overseers were required annually to appoint 
two of the overseers to make the rate for building and repairing 
the church, for the maintenance of the minister and for the 
support of the poor. 

From the overseers, the constable selected the jurors who at- 
tended the courts of sessions and assize. 

The principal courts established by these laws were the 
town court, the court of sessions, and the court of assize. 

The town court was composed of the constable, and by an 
amendment of the original law, of two overseers ; and had cog- 
nizance of all causes of debt and trespass under five pounds ; 
and the justice of the peace was authorized, but not required, 
to preside in this court. 

The court of sessions was establisiied in each riding, and 
was to be held twice a year. It was composed of the justices 
of the peace of the several towns in the riding, each of whom 
was at first allowed £20 a year, which, in 1666, were altered 
into an allowance for their expenses. 

This court had jurisdiction of all criminal causes, and of all 
civil causes over £5, arising in the riding. Causes were tried 
in this court in civil cases, and in criminal cases not capital, by 
a jury of seven men, and the verdict was determined by the 
voice of a majority ; but in capital cases the jury consisted of 
twelve men, and they were required to be unanimous. 

The judgments of this court for sums under £20, were final ; 
from such as were for more than that sum. the parties might 
appeal to the court of assize. 

The members of the council, the secretary of the colony, 
and the high sheriff, were respectively authorized to sit with 
the justices of the court of sessions ; and when either of them 



THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. Ill 

was present, he was required to preside. The courts of ses- 
sions also took the proof of wills in the respective ridings. 

The court of assize was composed of the governor, council, 
and magistrates of the several towns, and was held once a year 
in the city of New- York. It heard appeals from the sessions 
and other inferior courts. 

Suits for demands above £20 might be commenced in this 
court on the warrant of the governor ; so that it had original 
as well as appellate jurisdiction, and was a court of equity as 
well as common law. 

' The Duke's laws making no provision for a general assem- 
bly, the people had no voice in the government ; but the gover- 
nor had unlimited power, executive, legislative, and judicial. 
He was commander-in-chief; all public officers were appointed 
by him, and most of them held their offices at his pleasure. 
With the advice of his council he could make what laws he 
pleased, and repeal them in the same manner, even against the 
opinion or consent of the council. 

Some of the amendments to the original code purport to 
have been made at the court of assize, of which the juctices of 
the several towns formed a part. This was not a legislative 
but a judicial body ; and the power of the justices with regard 
to legislation, was probably like tliat of the parliament of 
France before the revolution, merely to register the edicts made 
by the governor and council. 

So far as they were permitted to interfere, the indulgence 
was calculated, if not intended, to lessen the responsibility of 
the governor without diminishing his power. 

It is certain that their presence or concurrence was not ne- 
cessary, and that the act imposing duties establishing an excise, 
and many other important acts, were adopted by the governor 
in council, and not at the court of assize. The people never 
considered the justices as their representatives, and censured 
the acts made at the court of assize as much as others. The 
governor presided in the court of assize, which, by appeal, had 
the control of all inferior tribunals. The judgments and de- 
crees of this court were probably such as the governor dictated j 



112 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

his assistants not being colleagues, but merely advisers, wht? 
held their authority under him, and were dependent on him. 

In this court the governor united the character of both judge 
and legislator. He interpreted his own acts, and not only 
pronounced what the law was, but what it should be. 

The charges of the several towns and counties under the 
Duke of York were defrayed by a direct tax on the persons 
and estates, real and personal, of the inhabitants, according to an 
estimate made by the constable and overseers of the several 
towns, in conformity with certain rules prescribed by law. 
The rate for the public or county charge in each riding was 
fixed by the governor and council, by the amount of its estimate. 
A penny in the pound was usually sufficient for the purpose. 
The tax was collected by the constables, and paid over to such 
persons in the several towns as were entitled to it on the warrant 
of the high sheriff. The town charges were fixed by the con- 
stable and overseers, and levied by the same estimate. Gover- 
nor Lovelace in 1670, and Governor Dungan in 1686 or '87, 
both attempted to raise money for colony purposes, by their own 
authority ; but the attempt met with so much opposition, that it 
could not be carried into effect. 

The colony charges were paid out of the monies arising 
from duties imposed by the governor and council on exports 
and imports. In the fall of 1G64 Governor Nicolls established 
a tariff of duties on goods exported to the Netherlands; and 
shortly after, on other goods, exported and imported. 

From the origin of the colony, each town was required to 
support its own poor ; the money to be raised by those who 
from time to time adjusted the contingent expenses of the dif- 
ferent counties. By the Duke's laws the constable and over- 
seers were required to take charge of the poor. In 1747 the 
several towns in Suffolk were authorized to choose overseers of 
the poor, and soon after some other counties were empowered 
to do the same. By the act of November 11th, 1692, the 
power of taking the proof of wills, and of granting letters tes- 
tamentary and of administration, was vested in the governor, or 
a delegate to be appointed by him. In 1778, and not before, the 
legislature ordered surrogates to be appointed by the governor 



THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT, 113 

anri council of appointment, in every county ; which is still con- 
tinued, except that the power is now vested in the governor 
and senate. The courts of sessions, which by the Duke's law- 
were to be held in each riding and afterwards in each county 
continued to be held with great regularity afterwards. 

The records of this court, as originally constituted, and as 
re-organized by the act of 1683, are still to be found m the 
clerks' offices of Kings, Glueens, and Suffolk. In King's there 
is a regular series of them, from 1669 to 1711. From these re- 
cords it appears to have been a common practice for the se- 
cretary of the colony, a member of the council, or the high she- 
riif, to sit and act in court with the justices. In the record of 
the court held at Gravesend, December 13th, 1671, Mathias 
Nicoll, the secretary, is styled preside?it of the court. This 
court was held at Gravesend from its origin till 1685, when it 
was removed to Flatbush by virtue of an act of the colonial le- 
gislature. There is also in the clerk's office of King's County, 
copies of most of the acts of the first assembly, passed in 1683 
and in 1684, with one or more acts passed by the second as- 
sembly in 1685. 

Smith, in his History of New- York, supposes that the court 
of assize had not been established till the time of Governor 
Lovelace. This is a great mistake. It was established by 
NicoUs in the code he had compiled for the government of the 
colony, and published in the assembly at Hempstead, March 
1st, 1665. In the fall of the same year, the three last days in 
September, and the second, third, and fourth days in October, 
a general court of assize was holden at New- York, composed 
of Richard Nicolls, the governor, the members of the council, 
and the justices of the three ridings of Yorkshire, on Long Is- 
land and Staten Island. 

The number of justices who attended this court rendered it 
a grievance. In the act of 1684, passed for its repeal, it is al- 
leged that it had " become a great charge and expense to the 
province ; and by reason of the great number, not so fit and ca- 
pable to hear and determine matters and causes of a civil na 
ture, usually brought to the said court ;" audit was for that 
reason abolished. 

15 



114 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

The last court of assize held under Sir Edmund Andross, 
October 6th, 1680, was composed of the governor, five coun- 
cillors, the mayor of New- York, five aldermen, and seventeen 
justices of the peace. 

THE PUBLIC DISCONTENT. 

The people on Long Island considered some of the laws es- 
tablished by the original code as arbitrary and oppressive ; and 
they deemed some that were made by Col. Lovelace, who com- 
menced his administration in May, 1667, as still more excep- 
tionable. 

They at length resolved to represent their grievances to the 
governor and council, and to pray for redress. 

October 9th, 1669, the towns of Hempstead, Jamaica, Oyster 
Bay, Flushing, Newtown, Gravesend, Westchester, and East 
Chester, severally petitioned for redress. 

They enumerated the defects in the existing laws which they 
wished to be remedied, stated the provisions which they wished 
to be adopted, remonstrated against the restrictions which the 
governor had imposed on trade ; and reprobated, as the great- 
est of their grievances, the exclusion of the people from any 
share in legislation. 

In their petitions they refer to the proclamation issued to the 
people of Long Island and others, by the commissioners, on 
their first landing at Gravesend, before the surrender of the co- 
lony, promising that they " should enjoy all such privileges as 
his Majesty's other subjects in America enjoyed ;" the most im- 
portant of which they allege is a participation in the power of 
making the laws by which they are to be governed, " by such 
deputies as shall be yearly chosen by the freeholders of every 
town and parish :" and they claimed a fulfilment of that pro- 
mise. 

They also complain of it as a grievance, that any acts should 
be made by the governor under pretence of his secret instruc- 
tions ; and pray " to be informed what is required of them by 
virtue of the commission granted by his Royal Highness the 
Duke of York." 



THE PUBLIC DISCONTENT. 115 

The governor and council received the petitions, granted 
some of their minor requests, but in the most important cases 
refused any redress. 

The town of Southampton was purchased and settled under 
the authority of the Earl of Stirling while he held the island, 
which circumstance the people of that town supposed exempt- 
ed them from the necessity of taking out a patent for their lands 
from the governor, as v/as required of other towns by the laws 
of 1665, and neglected to do it ; in consequence of which the 
governor and council, at the court of assize, October 8th, 1670, 
declared the titles to lands in that town invalid, unless a patent 
was obtained for them within a limited time. 

By another act passed at the same time, a levy or contribution 
was ordered to be made in the several towns on Long Island, 
to repair the fort at New- York. 

The governor had also imposed duties on goods imported and 
exported according to his pleasure for the support of govern- 
ment, and was now attempting to raise money by a direct tax 
for other purposes without the consent of the people. 

Several of the towns were alarmed at the precedent about to 
be established as dangerous to their liberties, and determined 
to resist it. 

The want of a general assembly was felt as a great grievance 
from the first establishment of the Duke's government; the in- 
habitants considered themselves in great measure disfranchised, 
and themselves little better than slaves, liable at all times to 
suffer by the arbitrary exactions of the government ; in short, 
that the whole system was only a tyranny in disguise, which, 
under the color of prerogative, might at any time trample upon 
the most sacred rights of the people under the plausible pre- 
tence of upholding the authority of government and support- 
ing the dignity of the crown ; against all which alarming en- 
croachments the people possessed no constitutional security o; 
any mode of redress, should petition and remonstrance fail, 
short of open and direct opposition to the government itself. 
The governor, it has been seen, possessed the sole appointing 
power ; and united in himself all the attributes of despotic au- 
thority, which he might any time, and frequently did, exercise in 



116 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

the most arbitrary manner. This concentration of power in 
the hands of a single individual might well alarm the timid, 
and awaken the most serious jealousies and discontents among 
the entire population of the colony, which was, in fact, the case. 
Difficulties continued to exist even after the establishment of 
the assembly, by the influence which the governors possessed, 
and their sometimes refusing their sanction to laws the most 
salutary and indispensable for the public security. 

It was evidently the object of many governors to control, as 
far as possible, the public revenues, and to fill their own pockets 
at the expense of the people ; and there are not wanting instan- 
ces of their having accumulated large fortunes in a surprisingly 
short period by acts of oppression and peculation. 

The governor could suspend the members of the council and 
appoint others, subject to the King's approbation ; he had a 
negative on the acts passed by the assembly and council ; he 
had power to summon, prorogue, or dissolve the assembly ; and 
with consent of the council, who were in general sufficiently 
submissive, could dispose of the public lands, and disburse the 
public money raised for the support of government. 

For some years the public revenue went into the hands of a 
receiver general, who was appointed by the crown, and was not 
accountable to the assembly. The acts for raising revenue for 
the support of government were continued for a series of years 
witliout appropriation ; and the council exercised a concurrent 
power over revenue bills, as in other cases. 

This mode of managing the revenue was liable to great 
abuse. An indefinite support enabled the governor to dispense 
with the assembly, and rendered him in a great measure inde- 
pendent of them during that period ; and the omission of spe- 
cific appropriations enabled the governor to fix the salaries of 
all public officers, to dispose of the public monies as he pleased, 
gave him the entire power over the civil list, and led to misap- 
plication and embezzlement. 

The English colonists on Long Island brought with them 
the doctrine that taxation and represeiUation were inseparable 
— tliat the power of disposing of his own money was the birth- 
right of every British subject, and one of the elementary prin- 



THE PUBLIC DISCONTENT. 117 

ciples of British liberty, — and that taxes could only be imposed 
with the consent of the people, by their representatives m a ge- 
neral assembly. 

They had for some years paid a direct tax of a penny in the 
pound to defray the public charges of the several towns and 
counties, of which they had not complained. 

The towns of Sowthold, Southampton, and Easthamp- 
ton, in a joint meeting by their delegates at Southold, agreed 
to contribute to the repairing of the fort, " if they might have 
the privileges that other of his Majesty's subjects in these parts 
have and do enjoy," alluding to the governments of New En- 
gland. 

June 24th, 1672. — The town of Easthampton, to whom the 
proceedings of the delegates were communicated, approved of 
the decision of the deputies, and agreed to comply with the or- 
der, " if the privileges may be obtained, but not otherwise." 
The towns of Huntington, Flushing, Hempstead, and Jamaica, 
by the votes of their respective town meetings, refused to com- 
ply with the order, and communicated the reasons of their refu- 
sal in writing to their respective constables and overseers, to 
whom the order was sent. ' 

The people of Huntington assigned this among other reasons 
for their refusal, viz : "because they were deprived of the liber- 
ties of Englishmen ;" intimating that they deemed it a violation 
of their constitutional rights that their money should be taken 
from them without their consent by their representatives in a 
general assembly. 

The people of Jamaica, in justification of their refusal, stated 
that they considered themselves already sufficiently burdened 
by the enhanced price which they paid for their goods, in con- 
sequence of the duties which the governor had imposed on 
them, in addition to a penny in the pound, which they paid to- 
wards the public charges. That a compliance with the order 
would be contrary to the King's instructions, which forbid any 
law to be enforced on the country that was contrary to the 
laws of the nation ; meaning, that no law for taking their money 
out of their pockets without their consent by their representa- 
tives, was consistent with the British constitution. '• That on 



118 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

the same principle that this order was imposed, they might be 
required to maintain the garrison, and whatever else we know 
not, till there be no end ; but if it may appear to us that it is the 
King's absolute order to impose the said burdens and disprivi- 
lege us, contrary to his former good intentions and instructions, 
and contrary to the liberties his Majesty's subjects enjoy in his 
territories and dominions, we shall, with patience, rest under 
the said burdens until address be made to the king for relief." 

The votes of Flushing and Hempstead have not been disco- 
vered, but there is no doubt they were to the like effect. The 
constables of Flushing, Hempstead, and Jamaica, laid the reso- 
lutions of their respective towns before the ensuing court, of 
sessions of the north-riding held at Jamaica ; but it seems that 
the court did not act on them. They then laid them before the 
court of sessions of the west-riding, which met the next week, 
December 21st, 1670, at Gravesend. That court, under the in- 
fluence of the secretary of the colony, who presided, and a mem- 
ber of the council, after examining the writings containing the 
proceedings of the said towns, adjudged " That the said papers 
were in themselves scandalous, illegal, and seditious ; tending 
only to disaffect all the peaceable and well-meaning subjects of 
his Majesty in these his royal Highness's territories and domin- 
ions." And the court further ordered " That the said papers 
should be presented to the governor in council, for them to pro- 
ceed on as they shall conceive will best tend to the suppression 
of false suggestions and jealousies in the minds of peaceable and 
well-meaning subjects in alienating them from their duty and 
obedience to the laws." 

Agreeably to this illegal order, the papers were presented to Go- 
vernor Lovelace, and were by him and his council adjudged to 
the flames, and ordered to be publicly burnt before the town- 
house of the city, at the next mayor's court to be held there. 

It was this sage and humane Governor Lovelace, who, as 
Smith in his History of New Jersey informs us, in 1668 wrote 
to Sir Robert Carr, who was then in authority there, that the 
best method to keep the people in order was "to lay such taxes 
upon them as may not give them liberty to entertain any other 
thoughts but how they shall discharge them." 



119 



THE RE-CONQ,UEST BY THE DUTCH. 

There is a chasm in our history from 1672 to 1674, which 
English writers have not seemed very anxious to supply ; for 
it was during this period that the colony of New- York came 
into the possession and under the government of its former mas- 
ters, the Dutch. In the war of Charles II. and Louis XIV. 
against Holland in the year 1773, the Dutch attempted to 
recover their authority in America. In that year two small 
Dutch squadrons, commanded by Captain Cornelius Evertsen 
and Captain Jacob Benkes, were despatched to the West In- 
dies to destroy, as far as possible, the English and French West 
India trade. In the course of this expedition they captured one 
hundred and twenty sail of English and French merchant ves- 
sels, which they despatched to Europe, and which arrived safe 
at Cadiz. The captains of the Dutch squadrons, highly ela- 
ted with their great success, concluded to extend their opera- 
tions to New- York. They accordingly united their forces, and 
sailed for their port of destination. Meeting with no obstacle, 
they arrived at Sandy Hook on the 30th of July, and in a 
few hours were in full possession of the city of New- York. 
The garrison, with forty pieces of ordnance, was taken without 
opposition or a gun being fired. Captain Manning, the com- 
mandant of the fort, most cowardly surrendered it to them 
without making any defence whatever. He was afterwards 
tried for treachery and cowardice by a court-martial, and sen- 
tenced to have his sword broken over his head. 

The commanders of the squadron appointed Captain Antho- 
ny Colve to be governor of the colony, who immediately set 
about reinstating the Dutch government. 

August 14, 1673, he issued a proclamation to the several 
towns on Long Island, requiring each of them to send two depu- 
ties to New- York, with full powers to make their submission 
to the states general and the prince of Orange on behalf of the 
town. 

The Dutch towns, and the English towns that were settled 
under the Dutch, submitted to the new government. The En- 



120 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

glish towns seem at first to have paid some attention to the pro- 
posals of the governor, but soon decHned them. 

October 1st, 1673, the Dutch governor sent William Knyff 
and Anthony Malypart to the English towns, requiring them 
to take the oath of allegiance. Oyster Bay complied ; Hunting- 
ton and Brookhaven offered to sig-n an agreement to be faithful 
to the Dutch government, but refused to take any oath that 
would bind them to take up arms against the crown of Great 
Britain. 

The three eastern towns declined any compromise, and sent 
deputies to Connecticut, to solicit that colony to take them under 
her jurisdiction, and to furnish them with aid against the Dutch 
if they should attempt to enforce their demands. 

October 9th, 1673, the general court referred their applica- 
tion to a committee, consisting of the governor, assistants, and 
two others ; and authorized them, with the concurrence of Mas- 
sachusetts and Plymouth, to grant their request, and to do what 
should be most advantageous for the mutual benefit of the par- 
ties. 

The committee agreed to take them under their jurisdiction, 
erected the three towns into a county, established a county 
court, appointed judges and such other civil and military officers 
as they deemed necessary, and sent a military force to their 
aid. 

October 25th, the governor sent William KnyfF and Nicholas 
Voss to the towns of Huntington and Brookhaven ; and, to in- 
duce them to comply with his wishes, promised them liberty of 
conscience, security of property, the choice of their officers, in 
the same manner as the like privilege had been enjoyed by the 
Dutch ; and also consented that the oath of allegiance should be 
so modified as to accommodate their scruples. 

Huntington and Brookhaven consented to yield to the wishes 
of the governor on condition that none but the magistrates 
should take the oath required of them. This was conceded, and 
these two towns submitted on those terms. 

October 30th, the Dutch governor sent Cornelius Steenwyck, 
first councillor, and two others, to the eastern towns, to persuade 
them to comply with the same terms. 



THE RE-CONQUEST BY THE DUTCH. 121 

They sailed down the Sound, and called at Shelter Island, 
where they fell in with Samuel VVyllis and Captain Winthrop, 
who had been sent to the island, by Connecticut, to carry their 
resolutions into effect. The Dutch commissioners visited South- 
old, and found the people assembled and in arms. They offer- 
ed to take their submission in writing, and to accept of the oath 
of allegiance from the magistrates. The people of that town, 
however, refused all manner of submission, and the commission- 
ers returned without effecting the object of their mission. 

In the mean time the governor of Connecticut wrote to the 
Dutch governor, and remonstrated against his attempting to ex- 
tend his jurisdiction over the English towns that never had been 
subject to the Dutch government. This produced a captious 
correspondence between the two governors. 

The Dutch governor undertook to reduce the eastern towns 
by force, and Connecticut assisted them to repel his attempts. 
The Dutch forces sailed down the Sound towards the east end 
of the island, and attempted several descents ; but effected no- 
thing, except the collection of a sum of money of Nathaniel Syl- 
vester of Shelter Island for the property of his brother Constant 
Sylvester, and Thomas Middleton, which the Dutch governor 
had illegally confiscated and sold to him. 

Trumbull, in his history of Connecticut, states that the Dutch 
threatened the eastern towns with destruction by fire and sword, 
unless they would submit and swear allegiance to the states ge- 
neral ; that they sent ships and an armed force towards the east 
end of the island, and made several descents ; but that, by as- 
sistance of the troops which had been sent by Connecticut, they 
were in all instances repulsed and driven from the island. 

October 14th, 1675. the general court of Connecticut returned 
Major Treat public thanks for his good conduct in defending 
the colony and the towns on Long Island against the Dutch, 
and for his subsequent services. 

November 26th, 1673, Connecticut, in conjunction with her 
confederates, declared war against the Dutch, and made prepa- 
rations to commence hostile operations in the spring. 

The Dutch governor seems to have been alarmed at these 
preparations. March 27th, 1674, he ordered all vessels to be 

16 



122 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

removed to a particular place, lest they should hinder the de- 
fence of the city ; and made provision for the transportation of 
the inhabitants of the neighborino: villages " in case of an at- 
tack." 

Peace was concluded in Europe, February 9th, 1674, and the 
news of it suspended hostilities, although no official account of 
it was received till several months afterwards. 

By the treaty, all conquests were to be restored to their for- 
mer owners ; but no person being sent to receive the surrender 
of the colony, the British government was not reinstated until 
the ensuing fall. 

The people of Southold, Southampton, and Easthampton, 
dreaded the prospect of a return to the Duke's government, and 
determined to use their utmost efforts to resist it. They accor- 
dingly chose delegates, and sent them to Connecticut to solicit 
their continuance under the protection and government of that 
colony. 

May 14th, 1674, the general court took their application 
into consideration, and consented that they should continue in 
association with that colony, with the same privileges as other 
towns, as far as was in their power to make the grant. 

The general court also appointed or re-appointed Captain 
John Youngs, Captain John Howel, and Mr. John Mulford, 
judges of the county court, and appointed Samuel Wyllis, John 
Talcott, and the secretary, or any two of them, to go over to 
the island to order and settle the affairs of the people there, and 
to establish such military officers among them as they should 
judge necessary. 

June 13th, 1674, the town of Eastliampton appointed a com- 
mittee, who were ordered, in conjunction with Southampton 
and Southold, to petition the king to suffer them to continue 
mider the jurisdiction of Connecticut. 

These towns continued attached to Connecticut when the 
colony was restored to the Duke of York. 

THE RESTORATION OF THE DUKe's GOVERNMENT. 

After the conclusion of peace, June 29th, 1674, the Duke of 



RESTORATION OF THE DUKES GOVERNMENT. 123 

York, to remove all doubt respecting- his title, obtained a new 
patent for the territories which had been granted to him by the 
patent of March 12th, 1664; and shortly after appointed Major, 
afterwards Sir Edmmid Andros, governor of his territories in 
America. 

October 31st, 1674, Sir Edmund arrived at New- York, re- 
ceived the surrender of the colony from the Dutch authorities, 
and reinstated the Duke's former system of government. Sir 
Edmund immediately sent to the three eastern towns, requiring 
them to return to the government of the Duke of York. 

The deputies of the three towns sent a memorial to the go- 
vernor, in which they state " That, by the aid furnished them by 
the kindness of Connecticut, they had repelled the Dutch ; that 
they had joined them, and come under that government ; that 
that government had appointed both their civil and military 
officers ; that they had become bound by oath to that colony, 
and could not dissolve the connexion without their approbation." 

November 17th, the people of Southold, by a vote of their 
town meetinof, declared themselves "to be under the government 
of his Majesty's colony of Connecticut, and that they would use 
all lawful means so to continue." 

The town of Easthampton instructed their deputies, who were 
appointed to consult with those of the other towns, what course 
they should take "to see that all lawful endeavors be put forth 
to the utmost for our continuance under that government." 

November 18th, 1674, the governor and council ordered that 
a messenger be again sent to the three towns, requiring them to 
restore the former overseers and constables to their places, " un- 
der the penalty of being declared rebels ;" and ordered the three 
deputies who signed the memorial on behalf of the respective 
towns, to wit : John Mulford, John Howell, and John Y\)ungs. 
to appear and answer before the council on the like penalty 

Thus the endeavors of the eastern towns to continue under 
the jurisdiction of Connecticut were unavailing, and they were 
obliged, however reluctantly, to return to the government of 
the Duke of York. 

Sir Edmund pursued the same arbitrary course that his pre- 
decessor had done. 



^24 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND, 

November 26th, 1674, he suspended a term of the court of 
sessions in the east-riding of Yorkshire, and ordered the towns 
of Hunlington and Brookhaven to have their business for the 
term transacted at the ensuing court of sessions at Jamaica in 
the north-riding, because the three eastern towns had not re- 
turned the accounts of the constables and overseers of those 
towns according to his orders. 

In April, 1681, the same governor arbitrarily summoned 
Isaac Piatt, Epenetus Piatt, Samuel Titus, Jonas Wood, and 
Thomas Wicks, inhabitants of Huntington, to New-York;' and 
caused them to be imprisoned without trial, and without being 
chargeable with any legal offence, but, as is supposed, merely for 
having attended a meeting of delegates of the several towns for 
the purpose of contriving the means of procuring a redress of 
grievances. Sir Edmund seems shortly after to have left the 
colony. June 29th, 1681, Anthony Brockholst presided in the 
court of assize as commander-in-chief. 

THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 

June 29th, 1681, the grand jury, at a special court of assize, 
in which Anthony Brockholst presided, presented the want of 
a general assembly as a grievance ; and the court appointed 
Captain John Youngs, the high sheriff of Yorkshire, to draw a 
petition to be sent to the Duke of York for the privilege ; which 
he did, and it was signed by the clerk, by order of the court, 
and forwarded to his Royal Highness, who seems to have lis- 
tened to the prayer of the petition, and instructed the new go- 
vernor to summon a general assembly as soon as he arrived in 
the colony. 

^Col. Thomas Dongan, the new governor, arrived August 
27th, 1683, and soon after issued orders to the high sheriff to 
convene the freeholders of the several ridings, to choose re- 
presentatives to meet him in assembly the 17th of October en- 
yuins:. 

This first assembly met according to the summons, in New- 
York, October 17th, 1683, and elected Mc.tthias Nichols, one 
of the representatives from New- York, their speaker. 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 125 

The assembly, at their first session, adopted a bill of rights, 
established courts of justice, repealed some of the most obnox- 
ious of the Duke's laws, altered and amended others, and passed 
such new laws as they judged the circumstances of the colony 
required. 

By the act of October 29th, 1683, a court was established in 
every town, for the trial of causes of debt and trespass under 
forty shillino's, to be holden the first Wednesday of every 
month, by three persons commissioned for that purpose, with- 
out a jury, unless demanded by one of the parties, and then to 
be granted at the expense of the party demanding it. A court, 
called a court of sessions, was established, to be held yearly in 
every county by the justices of the peace of the said county, 
or any three or more of them, for the trial of all causes, civil 
and criminal, arising in the county, by the verdict of twelve 
men ; the court to continue only three days. A court of gene- 
ral jurisdiction was established, called a court of Oyer and 
Terminer and general gaol delivery, with power to remove all 
causes and judgments over five pounds from inferior courts; 
and to examine, correct, or reverse the same ; to be holden by 
a judge and four justices of the peace, to be commissioned for 
that purpose in each respective county once in every year. 
Either by a law or an ordinance in 1684, two judges were ap- 
pointed to hold this court. 

This assembly had another session in October, 1684. At 
that session they abolished the court of assize, made further 
alterations in the Duke's laws, and enacted several new ones. 

A new assembly was summoned in September, 1685, and 
met at New- York the ensuing October, and chose William 
Pinhorne their speaker. This avssembly passed several acts, 
among which were the two following, to wit : An act, passed 
November 4tli, 1685, for regulating the proceedings of monthly 
courts throughout the province, by which the jurisdiction of 
the court was extended to five pounds ; and an act, passed No- 
vember 7th, 1685, for removing the court of sessions of King's 
County from Gravesend to Fl-atbush. 

There is no evidence that this assembly ever met again, or 
that any other was summoned, except one by Leisler during 



12t5 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



his exercise of supreme power, until the arrival of a governor 
under William and Mary in 1691. 

Charles II. died February 6th, 16S5, and the Duke of York 
succeeded him by the title of James II. ; and as he determined 
to have as little to do with parliaments as possible, so it is 
probable that he revoked the power which he had given to his 
governors to call assemblies, and determined that tliey should 
rule the colony by his instructions alone, without admitting the 
people to any participation in the public councils. 

By the act of November 29th, 1683, the governor and coun- 
cil were constituted a court of chancery, with an appeal to the 
king. The governor was authorized to appoint a deputy and 
other officers. 

On the 2d of November, 16S3, an act was passed to divide 
the province into shires and counties ; in which it is enacted as 
follows : 

" Quekn's County, to conteyne the severall towns of New- 
town, Jamaica, Flushing, Hempstead, and Oyster Bay ; with the 
several out-farms, settlements, and plantacons adjacent. 

" King's County, to conteyne the severall towns of Bosh- 
wyck, Bedford, Brucklyn, Fflatbush, Fflatlands, New Utreht, 
and Gravesend ; with the severall settlements and plantacons ad- 
jacent. 

" Suffolk County, to conteyne the severall towns of Hun- 
tington, Smithfield, Brookhaven, Southampton, Southold, East- 
hampton to Montauk Point, Shelter Island, the Island of Wight, 
Fisher's Island, and Plumb Island; with the several out-farms 
and plantacons adjacent." 

Andross having been appointed governor of New England, 
New- York was added to his government ; and an order of the 
king was read in council at New- York, July 28th, 1688, di- 
recting Colonel Dongan to deliver the seal of the province to 
Sir Edmund, who shortly after re-visited the province and as- 
sumed the government. 

August 25th, he issued new commissions to the civil officers 
of King's and Queen's counties. 

On his return to Boston, the affairs of New- York were con- 
ducted by Nicholson the lieutenant governor, and council. 



I 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 127 

It is supposed that Col. Dongan immediately retired to his 
farm as a private citizen, where he remained until the spring of 
1691, or longer, before he left the country. 

Tiie news of the accession of WilUam and Mary to the 
throne reached Boston in April, 1689 ; and the people imme- 
diately rose, seized the governor, whose tyranny had become 
intolerable, and imprisoned him, where they determined to de- 
tain him till they could hear from England. 

The news of the proceedings in Boston prompted certain 
persons in New- York, whose zeal or ambition was too impatient 
of delay to await the changes which would necessarily have 
succceeded the revolution in England, to wrest the government 
out of the hands of Nicholson the lieutenant governor. 

iVIay 31st, Captain Jacob Leisler put himself at the head of 
the parly, seized the fort and kept possession of it. June 3d, 
he was joined by the other captains of the militia, with their 
companies. They immediately issued a proclamation, stating 
that their intention in seizing the fort was to keep it for King 
William ; and that they would surrender it to the governor 
who should be appointed by him. Nicliolson imn)ediately 
retired aboard a vessel, and returned to England. June 12th, 
Leisler and his friends wrote to the several towns on Long 
Island, inviting them to send two men from each coimty to 
meet the deputies of the other counties at New- York, on the 
26th instant, to form a committee of safety ; and also to send 
two men from each town to assist in guarding the fort. 

It is supposed that King's and dueen's counties complied 
with the request, although there was a powerful opposition in 
Queen's county to the measure. 

The several towns in Suffolk met by their deputies at South- 
ampton, June 20th, where a majority of them refused to send 
deputies to New- York ; and immediately opened a negotiation 
with Connecticut, and made another unsuccessful effort to put 
themselves under the jurisdiction of that colony, the laws and 
institutions of which were more congenial with their ideas of 
good government than those of any royal province. 

Most or all of tlie other counties, it is supposed, sent their 
deputies to New- York. 



123 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



The committee of satety, which met at New-York June 
2Gth. 16S9, ijave Leisler the superintendance of thinps : nnd he 
maiiaijed the pubhc aliairs according to tlieii advice till the 
ensuincr lall. 

In December, letters were received from England, directed 
to "Francis Nicholson, or in his absence to such as for the 
time beinor take care for preserving the peace and administer- 
ing the laws in their Majesty's province of New-York in 
America;" and authorizing Nicholson '-to take upon him the 
chief command, and to appoint, for his assistance, as many of 
the principal freeholders and inhabitants as he should think 
fit." 

Leisler chose to consider these letters, in the absence of 
Nicholson, as addressed to himselt', and immediately assumed 
the title and power of lieutenant governor. He selected a 
council, appointed public otiicers in the several counties, and 
com-nissioned them in his own naiue, and demanded an entire 
submission to his authority. 

He sum:noned a general assembly in the spring of 1690, 
(probably to procure supplies for the protection of the frontiers ;) 
which met in New- York the 24th of April, and chose John 
Spratt their speaker. It is not known that any thing was done 
at this meeting. 

They were soon prorogued to the 1st of September. No 
members attended from Suiiblk, Albany, and Ulster ; and one 
from New-York, and one from Queen's County, refused to 
serve ; so that it could not have consisted of more than tight or 
nine members. 

During this period the towns in Sntfolk County had several 
meetings to consult about the course which it would be proper 
for them to pursue, without coming to any agreement. The 
sujumons to choose assembly-men was received March 15th, 
1690, which they refused to obey. 

The people of Huntington, in April, 1690, signified their 
willingness to recognize the authority of Leisler. 

The people of Easthampton came to a resolution, the 3d of 
May, that they would not submit to Leisler, but would continue 
as they were. This town consented, however, September 9th, 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMULY. 129 

1090, that certain monies which they had formerly raised for 
public use, and which had not been paid to the government, 
should be paid to Jicisler, or to his order. 

The county sent no members to the assembly, and does not 
seem to have been reconciled to Leislcr's authority ; but contin- 
ued in a divided and neutral condition during his administration. 
January 1st, 1090, Leisler issued a warrant to have Andrew 
Gibb, the clerk of Q,ueen's County, brought before him, to an- 
swer for not delivering the papers belonging to the oflice to Mr. 
Denton, the no.w clerk, whom he had appointed. 

February I5th, ho issued orders to thesherilf, and to the civil 
and military oflicers of that county, to secure Col. Thomas 
Dongaii, the late governor, in his own house, and to bring Col. 
Thomas Willett, Capt. Thomas J licks, Daniel Whitehead, and 
Edward Antill, Esquires, before the council. 

February 21st, he gave orders to have Col. Dongan, Ste- 
phen Van Cortland, Anthony IJrockholst, and Matthew Plow- 
man, Esquires, seized and brought before him. 

August 9th, 1090, lieisler issued a proclamation, requiring 
the members of assembly to meet at New- York the first day of 
September ensuing, to which day they were prorogued. 

August llth, after reciting that Nathaniel I'ierson, one of the 
deputies elected to the assembly for Queen's County, and Wil- 
helmus Beekman, one of tlie deputies from New-York, had re- 
fused to serve at the meeting in April, he ordered those coun- 
ties respectively to choose others in their room, to meet with 
the deputies of the other counties at their ensuing session in 
September. 

It seems that the opposition in Queens was not suppressed by 
the measures before taken for that purpose. 

October 18tli, 1090, Leisler ordered Major Milbourn " to 
take what force he could raise, to suppress the opposition in 
Queen's County." 

October 20th, he suspended the court of oyer and terminer, 
about to sit in King's County, "until the counties on Long 
Island should be reduced to obedience." 

October 30th, Luisler, after stating that a rebellion existed in 
Queen's County, issued orders to Samuel Staats and Capt. 

17 



130 HISTORY OF LONG tSLANDi 

Thomas Williams 'Uo suppress it," He also ordered Thomhs 
Williams and Samuel Edsdall to go to Flushing Bay toexamine 
the vessels there, to see that none were employed in a way pre- 
judicial to his interest. Capt. Richard Ingolsby arrived at New- 
York with his company the last of January, 1091, and demand- 
ed possession of the fort, which Leisler refused ; which added 
a new subject to the public contentions. 

The colony seems to have continued in this convulsed con- 
dition to the end of Leisler's administration. 

Leisler's authority was terminated by the arrival of Henry 
Slaughter, the new governor, March 19th, 1691, 

He refused to deliver up the fort to the new governor ; and 
thus violated all his former professions of zeal for King William, 
forfeited all claim to any merit for his services, and incurred 
tlie reproach as well as the penalty of usurpation. 

Leisler, and Milbourn his son-in-law, were tried and convict- 
ed of high treason ; and the warrant for their execution was is- 
sued by the advice of both the council and assembly. 

Leisler's son preferred a complaint against the governor, which 
was referred to the lords of trade ; who reported, March 11th, 
1092, "that they were humbly of opinion that Jacob Leisler 
and Jacob INIilbourn, deceased, were condemned, and had suffer- 
ed according to law." 

November 12th, 109-i, the parliament, on the application of 
Leisler's son, reversed their attainder ; and, in compassion to 
their families, restored them their estates. 

In the journals of the colonial assembly, April ISth, 1091, 
much credit is allowed by them to be due to Captain William 
Kidd for his many good services done tor the province in at- 
tending, as they say, with his vessels ; and expressing an opin- 
ion that he should be suitably rewarded ; and accordingly we 
lind that the same assembly, upon the 14th of May next ensu- 
ing, made an order that the sum " of one hundred and fifty 
pounds should be paid to Captain Kidd as a suitable acknow- 
ledgment for the important benefits which the colony had de- 
rived from his services." The commission of Governor 
Slaughter, of January 9th, 1589, constituted the foundation of 
the Colonial government here, after the revolution in England, 



I 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 131 



and continued as it wa.s then settled, with few innovations, un- 
til the American revolution. ^I'he executive power was vested 
in the {governor; and the legislative power in the governor, 
council, and fissernbly, subject to the revision of the king, to 
whom all laws were to be sent within three months after their 
passage. The council at first consisted of seven members, 
which number was afterwards increased to twelve, and were 
appointed by the king. The assembly was composed of dele- 
gates from each county, chosen by the freeholders. The num- 
ber was regulated by law. I'he term of service was indefinite 
till 1743, when it was limited to seven years. Among the first 
acts of the administration of Governor Slaughter, was that of 
May 6th, 1691, for quieting and settling the public disorders, 
which had long prevailed to the destruction of public confidence 
and regard for private right. Another act was passed at the 
same time for confirming all previous charters, patents and 
grants, under the seal of the province, both which acts gave 
very general satisfaction. Governor Slaughter died suddenly, 
and was buried in old Governor Stuyvesant's vault. The gov- 
ernment for the remainder of the year 1691 was administered 
by Richard Ingolsby, the lieutenant governor, and continued 
till the arrival of Benjamin Fletcher in 1692. He soon got at 
variance with the assembly, and became of course unpopular. 
He consulted his own mercenary views more than the interest 
of the people he was sent to rule over. One of the acts of 
Governor Fletcher was the establis?iment of a public fair or 
market at Jamaica every Thursday, for the sale of all kinds of 
cattle, grain, 6cc. ; and for holding two fairs yearly in the coun- 
ties of Suffolk and Giueens, and one in the county of Kings. 
The one for Kings to be held at Flatbush, those for Glueens at 
Jamaica, and those for Suffolk, one at Southampton and the 
other at Southold. An act was also passed April 10th, 1693, for 
calling Long Island the " Island of Nassau," which was never po- 
pular, and became obsolete in a few years thereafter. It was dur- 
inor the administration of Governor Fletcher that the first printing 
press was established in the city of New- York, by William Brad- 
ford, an important era in its history, and an event worthy of long 
remembrance. By the act of May 6th, 1691, the courts of com- 



132 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

mon pleas and sessions were distinctly organized. The court 
of common pleas was to be holden by a judge and three justices, 
to be assigned for that purpose ; three of whom to form a quo- 
ram, with power to hear and determine all causes arising in the 
county, triable at the common law ; and whose decision should 
be final in all cases under twenty pounds, except where the ti- 
tle to land came in question. 

The court of sessions was to be holden by the justices of 
the peace in Kings the second Tuesday of May and September, 
at Flatbnsh ; in Q,ueens, the third Tuesday of May and Sep- 
tember, at Jamaica ; and in Suffolk, the last Tuesday in March 
at Southampton, and the last Tuesday in September at South- 
old ; to continue only two days. The court of common pleas 
was to be opened immediately after the termination of the ses- 
sions, and to continue only two days. 

The act which was passed for settling a ministry and raising 
a maintenance for them was extremely unpopular, except 
among Episcopalians, for whose benefit it was perhaps covertly 
intended, and excited very general discontent. From the lan- 
guage of the act itself, and the character of many who were in 
favor of it, it seemed that there could have been no intention 
of confining its benefits exclusively to the church of England 
party ; and accordingly the assembly, to make the matter more 
clear and satisfactory, in 1695 resolved that the benefits of the 
act extended to the dissenting protestant clergy equally with 
others ; but tlie governor rejected that interpretation, and ap- 
plied it solely to the Episcopal clergymen, and they continued 
to engross its advantages till the period of the American revo- 
lution. By this act, among other things, Q,ueen's County was 
divided into two precincts, namely, Hempstead and Jamaica. 
The precinct of Hempstead included the township of Oyster 
Bay, and the precinct of Jamaica also included the town of Flush- 
ing. There were at this time a very few families of Epis- 
copalians in the country; and the application of the act, accord- 
ing to his Excellency's exposition of it, was deemed an imposi- 
tion, and a grievance of no ordinary magnitude. The result 
was of course that the great mass of inhabitants were most un- 
justly obliged to contribute to the support of ministers of ano- 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 133 

ther church, whose ceremonies and doctrines they believed to 
be both erroneous and ridiculous. 

Governor Fletcher continued in the administration of the 
government till the close of the year 1698, and was succeeded 
by Ricliard, Earl of Bellamont, who retained the office till 
1701. One of the most important and popular acts of his ad- 
ministration was that passed the 12th of May, 1679, for " vacat- 
ing, breaking and annulling," several very extravagant grants 
of his immediate predecessor to some of his party favorites, 
and to the vestry and wardens of Trinity Church. In 1701, 
John Nanfan,Esq., was appointed lieutenant governor. He held 
the office but a single year, and was superseded by the appoint- 
ment of Edward, Lord Cornbury. The real name of his Excel- 
lency was Edward Hyde, and he was the son of the celebrated 
Earl of Clarendon ; and having been among the first to desert 
from the army of King James, his Majesty King William chose to 
make him some return for his loyalty to him, by appointing him 
governor of New- York. It would appear, however, that his sense 
of justice was as weak as his bigotry was uncontrollable, as the 
following among other instances may serve to illustrate. 

Daring a great sickness in New- York, the governor and 
council decided upon removing into the country, and the vil- 
lage of Jamaica was deemed the most convenient on many ac- 
counts. The Presbyterian minister, Mr. Hubbard, happening 
to live in one of the best houses in the place, his Excellency 
requested to be allowed the use of it, which was politely 
tendered by the occupant, and Mr. Hubbard put himself to a 
considerable trouble and mconvenience for the governor's ac- 
commodation. The consequences were different from what 
he could have expected, even from a gentleman. In return for 
his generosity, the governor, instead of surrendering the house 
to its original possessor, when about to leave the place most 
perfidiously delivered it into the hands of the Episcopal party, 
and even encouraged the sheriff" to seize upon the parsonage 
lands also, and appropriate them for the benefit of that denomi- 
nation. This illegal and wanton act of the governor was fol- 
lowed by a series of difficulties in the churches of Jamaica, 



134 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

which continued to disturb their hr.rmony for more tlian twen- 
ty years. In addition to this act ot" baseness, the same gover- 
nor, in J 707, actually caused two Presbyterian ministers to be 
imprisoned tor presuming to preach without his particular li- 
cense. This miserable tool ot' royalty was a bankrupt in repu- 
tation and fortune at home, and had been sent here to fatten 
upon the people. Queen Anne, who succeeded to the throne 
in 1702, contiiuied his appointment. lie fmally left the conn- 
try in 170S, and returned to Europe, lie died at Chelsea on 
the 1st of April. 1723. 

He was succeeded in the otlice of governor of New-York by 
Lord Lovelace, Baron of Hurlev, who dying a few months af- 
ter, left Mr. Ingolsby, who was governor once before, to ad- 
minister the government ; and he being displaced, Gerardus 
Reekman, president of the council, in the absence of the com- 
mander-in-chief, filled the otUce till April, 1710. 

General Robert Uunter assumed the administration as gover- 
nor in 1710, which he retained till 1719. About three thou- 
sand persons, Avho were called Palatines, accompanied liim to 
America for the purposes of settlement. These people liad 
shortly belbre tied to England from the rage of religious per- 
secution in Germany. ]\lany of them settled in the city 
of New-York, where they erected a Lutheran church ; 
while others located on a tract of some tliousand acres in the 
manor of Livingston. It was dnring the administration of 
Governor Hunter, that an expedition was undertaken against 
Canada, and which tailed entirely, after a very considerable 
waste of time and money. On the 2nd of November, 1717, an 
act was passed for destroying foxes and wild cats upon Long 
Island, they having become both numerous and mischievous. 
The reward for killing a wild cat was nine shillings, and for a 
fox, five shillings. 

Colonel Peter Schuyler, as president of the council, directed 
the affairs of the province from the time of Governor Hunter's 
departure till the 17th of September, 1720, when William Hnr- 
net, Esq. assnmed the govermnent. He was the eldest son of 
the celebrated IJishop Burnet, and was born at the Hague, in 
March, 16G3. He was named William in honor of the Prince 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 135 

of Orange, who was his godfather. His means had been dis- 
sipated in the great South-Sea scheme, and the office of gover- 
nor of New- York was intended to repair in some measure his 
broken fortunes. In the assembly of the year 1721, and main- 
ly, as is supposed, through the influence of the governor, a 
very singular bill was introduced, with the more singular title 
of" An act against denying the divinity of our Saviour Jesus 
Christ ; the doctrine of the blessed Trinity ; the truth of the 
Holy Scriptures, and spreading atheistical books ;" but the good 
sense of the assembly immediately rejected the bill. On the 
irth of June, 1720, an act was passed, entitled "An act to pre- 
vent the setting on fire or burning the old grass on Hempstead 
Plains, which," says the preamble of the act, •' is frequently set 
on fire by several of (he inhabitants, throucjh folly and the grati- 
fication of their own wanton tempers and hurnors." And 
persons were also appointed in the act to assist in extinguishing 
such fires ; the persons named were Captain John Tredwell, 
Mr. James Jackson, Mr. William Cornwell, Nathaniel Seaman, 
Benjamin Seaman, Obediah Valentine, Thomas Williams, Peter 
Titus, Henry Willis, Jo?in Pratt. Nathaniel Townsend, Jeremiah , 
Robbins, Thomas Powell, Samuel Jackson, Thomas Seaman, 
John Mott, John Mott, jr., John Whitson, John Birdsall, John 
Tredwell, jr., James Burtis, and Caleb Carman ; all of whom 
were residents of the town of Hempstead. Burnet was after- 
wards appointed governor of Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
shire. He died the 7th of September, 1729. 

John Montgomerie, Esq. was the next governor of the colo- 
ny, and entered upon his duties the 14th of April, 1728. He 
was a Scotchman, had been bred a soldier, and latterly had 
held the office of groom of the bed-chamber to his Majesty 
George II. He was a gentleman of mild temper, and fond of 
retirement. No extraordinary acts of a public nature charac- 
terized his short administration, and he died, greatly lamented, 
on the 1st of July, 1731. On his decease the chief command 
of the province devolved upon Kip Van Dam, E.sq., the oldest 
of the council, and an eminent merchant of New-York ; which 
he relinquished on the arrival of Governor William Cosby, 
August 1, 1732. This gentleman was as much distinguished 



136 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

for his folly and imprudence as his predecessor was for pru- 
dence and good sense. It was, however, during his admin- 
istration that an act was passed on the 14th of October, 1732, 
to regulate the ferry between New- York and Brooklyn, and to 
establish, for the first time, the rates of ferriage. Some of these 
rates were as follows : — For a horse or beast, one shilling j a 
calf or hog, four pence ; a sheep or lamb, three pence ; a wag- 
on or cart, five shillings ; and for every person ten grains of 
sevil pillar or Mexican plate, or two pence in bills of credit. 
" Always provided that a sucking-child, or some remnants of 
goods or other small goods which a woman carries in her apron, 
or a man or a boy under his arm, shall be free." 

" In the administration of Governor Cosby," says the histo- 
rian Smith, "there was something to admire, and much to con- 
demn." No governor commenced his administration with bet- 
ter prospects and greater popularity, yet none endeavored less 
to retain the confidence and respect of the people. With high 
opinions of prerogative, and being decidedly hostile to free and 
equal legislation, he became at length odious to the colony, and 
was finally deserted and opposed by many who had been his 
best friends. He died the 7th of March, 1736, and the direc- 
tion of public affairs devolved upon George Clarke, Esq., as 
lieutenant governor, although violently opposed by the person- 
al friends of Rip Van Dam, who, they thought, as the oldest of 
the council, was best entitled to supply the vacancy. But Mr. 
Clarke was afterwards confirmed in the office by the commis- 
sion of the king. It was during the administration of Gover- 
nor Clarke that the act was passed, on the 16th of December, 
1737, for lowering the interest of money upon loans to seven 
per cent., as the high and excessive usury before taken, it was 
said, had been found by experience to be a very great discour- 
ao"ement of trade. It was also in his time that the memorable 
conspiracy was discovered called the "Negro Plot," which, it 
was supposed, had for its object the destruction of the whole 
city of New-York by fire. This was in the year 1741. The 
first fire broke out at his Majesty's house at Fort George, near 
the chapel, and some other adjacent buildings. Fires conti- 
nued to happen daily, and were at first supposed to be accident- 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 137 

ftl, but at length such disclosures and confessions were made, 
that prosecutions were set on foot. A number of people of co- 
lor were committed to jail as incendiaries, kept in dungeons 
for some months, and finally condemned to be hanged. Mr. 
Horsemanden, the recorder of the city, says, " many people had 
such terrible apprehensions on the subject, that several negroes, 
some of whom had assisted to put out the fires, were met and 
imprisoned; and when once there^ were continued in con- 
finement, because the magistrates could not spare time to ex- 
amine them." During this dreadful consternation, more than 
one hundred and fifty negroes were imprisoned, of whom four- 
teen were burned at the stake, eighteen were hanged, seventy- 
one transported, and the remainder pardoned, or discharged for 
want of proof At this gloomy period the population of the 
city was twelve thousand, of whom one-sixth part were slaves ; 
a strange comment upon the professions of those who had left 
Europe for the sole purpose of enjoying perfect freedom in 
America. Governor Clarke, it must be admitted, studied his 
own interest ; for he retired from office with a fortune of a hun- 
dred thousand pounds sterling, surely no mean sum in that 
day. His Excellency George CUnton, who had been commis- 
sioned as governor of New- York, arrived on the 23d of Novem- 
ber, 1743, which put an end to the administration of Governor 
Clarke. At this time the finances of the colony were any thing 
but prosperous. He was descended from an ancient and res- 
pectable family in Somersetshire, England, and was bred to the 
law. His wife was an heiress of the elder branch of the house 
of Hyde, in the county palatine of Chester, and where he after- 
wards died in 1763. He was the son of Francis Clinton, Earl 
of Lincoln. His administration of ten years was turbulent and 
unhappy. He was involved in a violent controversy with the 
assembly, instigated, as is believed, by Chief- Justice De Laneey, 
the ruling demagogue of that period. Yet, notwithstanding the 
public discontents, more laws were passed, and more valuable 
improvements took place in the internal police of the province, 
than during any preceding reign. This gentleman was re- 
ceived with great joy by the people, because they wanted a 
change, but were quite as well pleased to be rid of him a few 

16 



138 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

years after. He was a man of indolence, fond of wine, and 
therefore unfit to discharsfe the duties of his ofiice. He, like 
his predecessor, managed to amass a fortune of eighty thousand 
pounds sterling, which he carried with him to Europe. He 
was succeeded, in 1753, by Sir Danvers Osborne. He arrived 
in October, and was received with great rejoicings ; but in con- 
sequence of the loss of his wife, which produced great depres- 
sion and melancholy, he was found, on the fifth day after his 
arrival, suspended by a handkerchief to the fence of Mr. Murry, 
one of the council. This unhappy gentleman had the reputa- 
tion of great personal worth ; he had been a member of parlia- 
ment, and was the brother-in-law of the Earl of Halifax. On 
the death of Mr. Osborne, the administration fell upon the Hon. 
James De Lancey, who had been a distinguished leader of the 
government under Mr. Clinton. He was now both chief-jus- 
tice and lieutenant governor, commencing with the latter of- 
fice in 1753. He was but little acquainted with jurisprudence 
when made a judge, yet by great industry and perseverance 
he became in the end a learned and profound lawyer. He re- 
mained at the head of the government until the arrival of Sir 
Charles Hardy in 1755, and again as successor to Hardy from 
1757 to 1760; and died August 2d of the latter year. His 
daughter was the wife of the celebrated William Draper, whose 
fame will be as lasting as the letters of Junius. 

Sir Charles Hardy was a distinguished officer of the British 
navy, but his arrival as governor scarcely diminished the pow- 
er of Mr. De Lancey, since the governor, being ignorant of civil 
affairs, and entirely unacquainted with the colony, put himself 
into his hands, and was guided mainly by his counsels. It 
was during this year that preparations were made for a war in 
America between the English and French. The governor 
was promoted to the rank of rear admiral of the blue, with a com- 
mand in the projected expedition against Louisburgh, and there- 
fore left the administration in the hands of Mr. De Lancey. In Ju- 
ly, 1758, the British under Colonel Bradstreet captured Fort Fron- 
tinac, and several armed vessels on the St. Lawrence. The 
New- York troops consisted of two detachments ; one command- 
ed by Lieut. Col. Charles Clinton, consisting of 440 men, un- 



THE FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 139 

der Captains Ogden of Westchester, Dubois of New- York, 
Bladgley of Dutchess, and Daniel Wright of dueens ; the se- 
cond was commanded by Lieut. Col. Isaac Corse of Queens, and 
Major Nathaniel Woodhull of Suffolk, with six hundred and 
sixty-eight men, under Captain Elias Hand of Suffolk and 
Richard Hewlett of Glueens. 

On the death of Chief- Justice De Laneey in 1660, the admi- 
nistration devolved upon Cadwallader Colden, Esq., being the se- 
nior member and president of the council. He soon after received 
the commission of lieutenant governor at the age of seventy-three 
years. This gentleman, a celebrated physician, botanist, and as- 
tronomer, was a native of Scotland, and graduated at Edinburgh 
in 1705. Allured by the fame of Penn's colony, he came to Ame- 
rica in 1708. Governor Hunter was so well pleased with him that 
he became his warm friend, and offered him his patronage if he 
would come to New- York. He consequently settled here in 
1718, and was the first person that filled the office of surveyor- 
general in this colony. On the arrival of Governor Burnet he 
was made one of the council, and rose afterwards to the head 
of the board, thus succeeding to the administration of the go- 
vernment in the absence of the governor. He owned a large 
tract of land in Orange County, but afterwards purchased a 
farm at Flushing in Queen's County, which he named " Spring 
Hill," to which he retired from the cares and perplexities of 
office, and where he died on the 21st day of September in the 
year 1776. 

Mr. Colden was relieved from the duties of his office for one 
year, commencing October 26th, 1762, by the arrival of Robert 
Monkton, Esquire, who had been appointed governor of the pro- 
vince ; but being afterwards placed at the head of an expedition 
against Martinique, he left the government again to Mr. Colden, 
with an agreement, it is said, to divide equally between them 
the salary and perquisites of the office of governor. 

Sir Henry Moore was commissioned as Governor of New- 
York in 1765, at the time when the attempt was made to im- 
pose stamp paper upon the people, and gave rise to a spirit of 
opposition and jealousy of their rulers that was never after- 
wards allayed, and which ended in revolution and theestabhsh- 



140 HISTORY OF LONG 1SLANI3. 

ment of independence. He, however, manao;ed with so miicll 
discretion, as to avoid any very considerable diiiiculties till his 
death, which happened September llth, 1709. His conununi-' 
cations to the assembly were characterized by good sense and 
brevity; atid in enforcing the odions reqnirements of the pa- 
rent country, he did not suffer liis zeal for the crown to urge 
him into indiscreet controversies with the people among whom 
he lived, and whose respect and esteem he appeared anxious 
to preserve. At the termination of his administration, the su- 
preme court of the colony consisted of the following named 
judges, — Daniel Horsemander, chief-justice, and David JoneSj 
William Smith, and Robert R. Livingston, judges. The salary 
of the first was three hundred pounds, and that of the others 
two hundred each. On the death of Sir Henry Moore the 
duties of lieutenant governor again fell upon Mr. Colden, and 
continued so till the ISth of November, 1770 ; when John, Lord 
Dunmore, the new gOv^ernor, arrived. He was less avaricious 
than some of his predecessors ; for when the assembly, on the 
17th of January, 1771, voted him two thousand pounds as a 
salary for the ensuing year, he refused it, and returned a mes- 
sage, saying, " that the king had appointed himt a salary out of 
his treasury, and he wished this allowance omitted." The ob- 
ject of this refusal was not so very disinterested as it might at 
first appear, as it was intended to keep the governor independ- 
ent of the people, and to raise monies for the support of the 
government by tlie imposition of taxes upon the colonists. His 
Lordship finally removed to Virginia, where he was made gov- 
ernor, and his place was supplied by the arrival of William 
Tryon, Esquire, as governor, the Sth of July, 177L Governor 
Dunmore was, in 1775, obliged to abdicate the government of 
Virginia, and take refuge on board of a man-of-war. He mani- 
fested his resentment and the badness of his heart by acting the 
part of a corsair and plunderer. He also caused the conflagration 
of Norfolk, January 1, 1776. In 1786 he was appointed gov- 
ernor of Burmuda, and died in England in 1S09. His wife was 
Lady Charlotte Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Galloway. 

Governor Tryon commenced his administration at a time of 
great excitementj and it required the utmost prudence to stear 



THE flRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY. 141 

clear of the most serious difficulties with the people. Yet he 
managed with so much discretion as to preserve the crood will 
of the inhabitants till the period when all regular government 
was dissolved in the elements of revolution. On the 2nd of 
September, 1773, he laid the first stone of the New-York Hos- 
pital. He left the colony in April, 1774, and returned again in 
1775, at the instance of the ministry ; but did not again meet the 
assembly, that body having adjourned the 3d of April, 1775, 
and never convened any more. Addresses of friendship were 
presented to him from many public and corporate bodies ; and 
King's College (now Columbia), in which he had founded a pro- 
fessorship, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor 
of Laws. It is much to be lamented that a person possessinor 
so many amiable qualities, and a reputation for kindness and 
humanity, should, from his zeal for monarchy or resentment to- 
ward his opponents, have forfeited so entirely the good opinion 
of all his American friends, and incur all the odium due to the 
most consummate villany, by conduct so atrocious and dis- 
graceful as he afterwards exhibited. For he seemed to have 
changed his nature, and to enjoy a sort of demoniac pleasure 
in burning and plundering villages and towns as a means of 
distressing: the inhabitants. 

With Governor Tryon terminated the list of colonial gov- 
ernors, and with him expired also the name of colony and sub- 
jects of a foreign power. The territory was organized into a 
state, and its citizens joined heart and hand with their political 
brethren in the other provinces, in every measure calculated to 
free them from oppression, and to establish a free and indepen- 
dent government. And on the 4th of July, 1776, was publish- 
ed, by the representatives of a free people, that Declaration 
which has been emphatically denominated the Charter of Ame- 
rican Liberty. 

The whole history of the colonial government sufficiently 
demonstrates, that it is in vain to expect a patriotic devotion to 
tlie public welfare, and the happiness of the people, from rulers 
not connected with the country they govern by ties of personal 
feeling, and a kindred interest in the prosperity of its citizens ; 
and that a subserviency to the crown and disregard of the wel- 



142 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

fare of the community, are vices inherent in the very nature 
of colonial governments. 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 



This county includes all that part of Long Island which lies 
eastward of the township of Oyster Bay, excepting Lloyd's 
Neck, which is attached by law to the county of dueens. It 
is about one hundred and ten miles in length, and in some parts 
twenty in breadth. It is bounded northwardly by the Sound, 
eastwardly and southwardly by the Ocean, and westwardly by 
Lloyd's Neck, Cold Spring Harbor, and the east bounds of 
Q,ueen's County ; including Gardiner's Island, Plumb Island, 
the Great and Little Gull Islands, Fisher's Island, Shelter Island, 
and Robin's Island. 

This county was organized on the 1st of November, 1683, 
at which time the ridings were abolished, and Long Island was 
divided into three counties, as they have remained ever since. 
It is subdivided into nine distinct municipalities or towns, to 
wit : Huntington, Smithtown, Islip, Brookhaven, Riverhead, 
Shelter Island, Southampton, and Easthampton. 

The first court of sessions in this county, of which any record 
remains, was held under the authority of the Duke's laws, on 
the 6th day of March, 1677 ; and at which the presiding officers 
were as follows : 

Mathias Nicolls, President, 

Thomas Willet, Councillor, 

Thomas Baker, ] 

Isaac Arnold, \ Justices. 

Richard WooDHULL. J 

The act of 1683 required two courts of general sessions to be 
held in each county, annually, and those for this county to be 
holden at the town of Southampton ; at which place they con- 
tinued to be held, together with the court of oyer and termi- 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 143 

ner, for about forty years, when they were held occasionally at 
Southold, where the prison was estabUshed. 

The oldest minute which has been discovered relative to the 
court of common pleas in this county, is as follows : 

" At a court of common pleas held at Southampton the next 
day after the court of general sessions terminated, being the 
28th day of March, in the ninth year of his Majesty's reign, 
anno domini, 1723. 

Present, Henry Smith and Benjamin Youngs, Esquires, 

Judges. 
Robert Hudson and Josefh Wickham, Esquires, Jus- 
tices. 
William Smith. Clerk. 
Attornies, Hopkins, Clowes, and Vernon." 

This court was held under the act of the 6th of May, 1691. 

At a court of general sessions, held the last Tuesday of 
March, 1723, the presiding justices were Timothy Brewster, 
Jeremiah Scott, Joseph Wickham, Selah Strong, William Smith, 
and Brinley Sylvester. The court of common pleas, October 1 , 
1724, was held by Benjamin Youngs and Richard Floyd, 
judges, and Joseph Wickham, Thomas Chatfield, and John 
Foster, justices. 

About this time a court house, or county hall, was built at 
Riverhead, then a part of Southold, where the court was held 
for the first time, on the 27th of March, 1729. 

Under the ordinance of 1699, the names of judges of the 
court of common pleas, were as follows, from 1723 to 1775. 

1723, Henry Smith, Benjamin Youngs, and Richard Floyd. 

1729, Henry Smith, Benjamin Youngs, and Samuel Hutchin- 
son. 

1738, Henry Smith, Joshua Youngs, and Thomas Chatfield. 

1752, Richard Floyd, Elijah Hutchinson, and Hugh Gelston. 

1764, Richard Floyd, Samuel Landon, and Hugh Gelston. 

1771, William Smith, Samuel Landon, and Isaac Post, 

1775, William Smith, Samuel Landon, and Isaac Post. 

The names of the clerks of the county, from 1669 to 1776, 
are as follows : 



144 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



Henry Pierson, from 1G69 to 1C81. C. Congreve, from 1716 to 17-22. 

John Howell, 1681 to 109-2. Samuel Hudson, 172-2 to HoO. 

Tiiomas Helme, 169-2 to 1705). William Smith, 1730 to 1750. 

Henry Smith, 1"09 to 1716. William NicoUs, 1750 to 177.'>. 

The members of the general assembly of the colony from 
this county, from its establishment in 1691 to 1775, and for the. 
respective periods mentioned, were as follows : 

Henry Pierson, 1691 to 1695. Epenetus Piatt, 17-23 to 1739. 

Matthew Howell, 1691 to 1693. Samuel Hutchinson, 17-26 to 1748. 

John Tuthill, 1693 to 1694. 

Matthew Howell, 1694 to 1705. 

John Tuthill, 1695 to 1698. 

Henry Pierson, 1693 to 1701. 

William NicoUs, 1702 to 1?23. 

Samuel Mulford, 1705 to 17-26. 

William NicoUs, 3d, 1769 to 1775. 

The following persons were members of the council from 
16S3 to 1704. Colonel John Youngs, from 16S3 to 169S; 
Colonel William Smith, from 1691 to 169S ; and Mr. William 
NicoUs, from 1691 to 1704. The justices of the peace for the 
county, iu 1763, were as follows : 



Epenetus Piatt, 
Samuel Hutchinson, 
Daniel Pierson, 
Eleazer Miller, 
Wmiam NicoUs, 2d, 
Eleazar M iller, 
WUliam Nicolls, 3d, 
Nathaniel WoodhuU, 



1737 to 1748. 
1748 to 1768. 
1739 to 1769. 
1768 to 1760. 

1768 to 1769. 

1769 to 1775. 



Richard Floyd, 
Hugh Gelston, 
Samuel Landon, 
John Chat field, 
Richard WoodhuU, 
George PhUlips, 
Richard Miller, 
Nathaniel Baker, 
Isaac Barnes, 
John Pierson, 
Benjamin Conkling, 
Richard WoodhuU, jun. 
Maltby Gelston, 
WiUiam Hubbard, 
John WoodhuU, 



Isaac Post, 
Thomas Youngs, 
Robert Hempstead, 
Isaac Hubbard, 
Nathaniel WoodhuU, 
Jonas Williams, 
Thomas Jarvis, 
Burnet Miller, 
John Still Winthrop, 
Thomas Helme, 
James Reeve, jun. 
Selali Strong, 
Thomas Sandford, 
Phineas Fanning, 
Thomas Osborn, 



Daniel Wells, 
Parker Wickhani, 
Thomas Cooper, 
Benajah Strong, 
Jonathan Thompson, 
Joseph Lewis, 
William Phillips, 
Charles Floyd, 
Samuel Allen, 
Obediah Piatt, 
Ebenczer White, 
Samuel Hunting, 
Barnabas Terril, 
Benjamin Brown. 



Deputies to the convention which met the 10th of April, 
1775, for the purpose of electing delegates to the first continen- 
tal congress : William Floyd, Nathaniel WoodhuU, Phineas 
Fanning, Thomas Tredwell, and John Sloss Hobart. 

Members of the provincial convention which met the 27ili 
of May, 1775 : Nathaniel WoodhuU, John Sloss Hobart, Ezra 
L'Hommedien, William Smith, Thomas Wickham, Thomas 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 145 

Tredwell, David Gelston, John Foster, James Havens, Selah 
Stronof, and Thomas Deering'. 

Members of the convention to form the constitution of this 
state, in 1777, were as follows : William Smith, Thomas Tred- 
well, John S'oss Hobart, Mathias B. Miller, Ezra L'Hommedieu, 
Nathaniel Woodhnll, Tliomas Deering", and David Ge!ston. 

The following: were members of the convention which met 
at Poug-Iikeepsie, June 17th, 1788, and adopted the constitution 
of the United States : Henry Scudder, John Smith, Jonathan 
N. Havens, Thomas Tredwell, and David Hedges. 

The population of this county at different periods have been 
a"^ follows: In 1731, 7675 ; in 1771,18126; in 1786,13793; 
in 1790,16440; in 1800,19444; in 1810, 21113; in 1820, 
24272 ; in 1825, 23695 ; in 1830, 26780 ; in 1835, 28724. 

In 1810, there were in this county 1062 looms; and during 
that year were manufactured, chiefly in families, 51220 yards of 
woolen, 158390 of linen, and 4087 of cotton cloth. 

There have been three capital executions in this county 
since the revolution, as follows : William Erskine, (black) 
of Brookhaven, convicted of rape, September 14th, 1791, and 
executed October 5, 1791. William Enoch, of Huntington, 
convicted of the murder of his wife in June, 1834, and executed 
January 12th, 1835. John Hallock, of Brookhaven, convicted 
of the murder of a colored woman. May 10th, 1836, and executed 
July 2d, 1836. 

The delegates to the convention of 1821, for amending the 
constitution of this state ; Ebenezer Sage, Usher H. Moore, and 
Joshua Smith. 

By the act of March 8th, 1773, William Smith, Samuel Lan- 
don, and Maltby Gelston, were appointed commissioners of 
excise for the county. 

The first judges of this county since the revolution have 
been Selah Strong, appointed in 1783; Ebenezer Piatt, in 1794 ; 
Abraham Woodhull, in 1799; Thomas S. Strong, in 1810; 
Joshua Smith, in 1823; Jonathan S. Conkling, in 1828; 
and Hugh Halsey, in 1833. 

Surrogates. Thomas Tredwell, from 1787 to 1791. Nicoll 

19 



146 HISTORY OF LONO ISLAND. 

Floyd, from 1791 to 1S23. Ebenezer W. Case, from 1823 lo 
1827 ; and Hugh Ilalsey from 1827 to the present time. 

The clerks of the county, since 1770, have been as follows : 
William B. Bevans, appointed in 1783 ; Ezra L'Hommedieu,in 
1784; Hull Osborn, in 1810; Charles H. Havens, in 1812; 
Charles A. Floyd, in 1820 ; Charles H. Havens, elected in 1822 ; 
Joseph R. Himtina:, 1829 ; and George S. Phillips, the present 
clerk, in 1838. 

The district attornics, since the act requiring one in each 
county, have been as follows : Silas Wood, appointed in 1818. 
Selah B. Strong, in 1821. Charles A. Floyd, in 1830, and 
Selah B. Strong again in 1834. The following extracts from 
court records and other sources are sulliciently curious and in- 
teresting to be preserved, and present a diverting representation 
of the olden times, both in the language and subject matter of 
most of them. 

" At a court of sessions held at Southampton on the 4th of 
March, 16G9, a complaint is prosecuted to the court against Mr. 
John Laughton, for his misdemeanour in saying to Mr. John 
Howell that hee was a traytor to ye State, and hee would prove 
him soe. Mr. Laughton being called, appears, and being que.s- 
tioned by ye cort about itt, hee owned y* he called Mr. Howell 
soe, and confessed y' hee had noe just cause soe to call him. 
The Cort adjudg Mr. Laughton to pay a fine of £3 to ye 
county, and costs of cort, in current pay without further trouble. 
" Edward Avery ye Smith at Eastharapton, being brought be- 
fore ye cort to answer for his committing of fornication with 
her hee now calls his wife ; hee acknowleged injeniously the fact 
or offence, and undertaking for his wife therein also. The cort 
give sentence that he shall pay £3 as a fine to the county, and 
costs of cort, all which he promiseth to satisfie," &,c. 

"Mrs. Alice Stanborough entereth complaint against Mr. 
Edwards of their town of Easthampton, for his turning a water 
course upon her land and housing to her groat damage and 
inconvenience, to the value of £5 IO5. The complaint being 
prosecuted at this court, and the witnesses on both sides duly 
considered, the cort doth give their judgm' and order as foUow- 
eth : — that the plf. sueing for ^€5105. damage but not proving it, 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 147 

this cort doth judg and determine according^ to law in that case 
provided, that ye plf. shall lose her suite or plainte, and pay unto 
ye deft, costs of suite. And for prevention of any further trou- 
ble betweene the plf. and ye deft, concerning the turning of a 
flux of water into ye pit's grounds, this cort doth order that ye 
constable of Easthampton, and 3 of theire overseers, namely, 
Stephen Hand, Nathaniel Bishop, and Steeven Hedges, shall 
view the ground belonging to the plf. and deft, and set down, 
order, and dispose of that occasion as may be most convenient 
for both ye parties, with the assistance of Mr. Mulford — and 
what those 4 men doe determine, as to where the water shall 
run, shall be a fin all conclusion betweene the plf and deft., they 
being to satisfie the s'^ 4 men for what pains they shall bee at." 

"John Cooper, as Attorney for Mr. James Mills of Virginia, 
enters an action of debt against Hackaliah Bridges, on which ac- 
compt some of his goods were attached ; the jurymen were 
Joshua Barnes, Joseph Rayraer, Richard Howell, Thomas 
Topping, Thomas Goldsmith, Robert Dayton, and Ensigne 
Bayly of Huntington. The plf produced his letter of atty. 
from Mr. Mills. Also the plf produced several writings knowne 
to bee signed by ye s** Hackaliah, which was compared with 
ye s<i bill, to confirme to the cort the reality thereof The 
jury fmde for ye plf and 30.s-. costs of suite. The cort give 
judgm' accordinge." 

" At a cort of sessions held March 6, 177|. The constable 
and overseers of Easthampton enter complaint against Reneck 
Garison and his wife, for being guilty of fornication before they 
were marryed. It being sufficiently proved, ye cort give sen- 
tence that they both shall have corporall punishment publickly, 
viz : with five stripes a-piece. But John Denison and Corne- 
lius Vonk, engaging to the justices to pay forty shillings to the 
country for ye s"^ Reneck and his wife, as a fine, the said sen- 
tence is reversed." "A complaint against Peeter Whittere, March 
7, 167^, for his abusive carriage toward Justice Mulford. 
The cort doth order and sentence, that ye s*^ Peeter shall make 
acknowleginent of his evil and abusive carriage, next Lord's 
day come seven-night, at ye publique meeting in Easthampton, 



148 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

to the satisfaction of Mr. Mulford ; and hee is to pay ye costs 
of ye complainte. as also his former fine imposed." 

"January ye 14, 1672, Mr. John Tomson of Seatauk, plf. 
enters an action of slander or deffamation against Richard Min- 
torne, deft, to be tryed at ye next cort of sessions. 

" The plf. and dft. are agreed as follows : 

" Be it known to all, thai I, Richard Mintorne of Southampton, 
doe acknnwlege that I have spoken ffoolishly and inadvisedly 
to the dissparagemcnt of Mr. John Tomson of Seatauk, and 
that of my knowledge I know nothing of it. And this 1 give 
for a publique satisfaction — as witness my hand. ; 

" Richard Mintorne." 

The proof of last wills and testaments were anciently taken , 
before the courts of sessions, by virtue of a commission or au- j 
thority Irom the governor and council, under the Duke of York, ! 
and when approved, were recorded in the minutes of the court ; 
and the records of the court, as well as of the several towns, 
abound with copies of wills and inventories of the personal es- 
tates of deceased persons. As a specimen of ancient wills, the 
following is considered worthy of preservation ; it is supposed 
to be in tlivor of a young lady whom the testator had engaged to 
marry should he live to return from tiie voyage he was about 
to take, and as a proof of his attachment. 

" 1, Lattimer Sampson, of Oyster Bay, Long Island, being in- 
tended (God permitting) to travell to the Barbados, and well 
knowing the casualty of man's life and certainty of death, do 
make, constitute, and appoint this to bee my last will and testa- 
ment, in manner and form following ; that is to say : I give, 
will and bequeath all my estate, both real and personal, on Long 
Island, Shelter Island, and elsewhere in New England ; and 
the gains and advance (the principal being repaid in England, 
within two years after my decease) of all such goods as shall 
bee sent to mee (within one year after the date hereof,) upon 
my proper accompt, unto Grizzle Sylvester, daughter of Natha- 
niel Sylvester of Shelter Island ; and to her heyres and assigns 
for ever. And I doe hereby constitute and appoint the said Na- 
thaniel Sylvester, and the said Grizzle Sylvester, to bee my 
executor and executrix of this my will. In testimony where- 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 149 

of, I have hereto set my hand and seal. Dated, Shelter Island, 
the 16th day of the month called fFebruary, 1668. 

"Lat. Sampson. [L. S.]" 

It should be remarked that the testator died abroad, and the 
young lady afterwards became the wife of James Lloyd, Esq., 
of Boston ; and in consequence of which he became entitled to 
a part of Lloyd's Neck, th°.n called Horse Neck. 

Extracted from the Kew- York Mercury, June 29tli, 1772. 
" We hear from Brookhaven, that on the night of the 18th in- 
stant, about midnight, a barn belonging to Mr. Samuel Davis, of 
that place, was discovered to be all in flames, so that the fire 
could not be extinguished till the barn was burnt to the ground. 
The people who assembled on this occasion perceived another 
barn hard by to be on fire at both ends, but as the fire had been but 
lately kindled, it was soon suppressed ; and while they were 
about it, they perceived a third barn at a little further distance 
to be also on fire, which they likewise suppressed. These fires 
were supposed to be designedly kindled by a runaway negro 
who had belonged to Mr. Davis." 

From the same. " We learn from South-haven in Suffolk 
County, on Long Island, that about four o'clock last Monday after- 
noon, Nathaniel Brewster, Esq., of that place, being in the 
woods with one of his negroes, attempted to correct him 
for some misdemeanor, which the negro resented, and wound- 
ed his master, by giving him several such heavy blows 
on his head with a billet of wood that he expired the next 
morning. The negro was tried the next day, and being found 
guilty of the murder of Mr. Brewster, was to be executed last 
Friday." 

From Rivington^s New- York Gazette, January 16, 1774. 
" From Huntington, on Long Island, we are informed that last 
Christmas-day, Mr. Ebenezer Piatt being hunting deer with 
some other young men near that village, they surrounded 
a swamp where the game were, and agreed with each other 
not to enter any part of it. Mr. Piatt seeing a buck at some dis- 
tance, rushed forward, and one of his companions hearing a 
noise in the bushes, immediately fired and lodged five swan- 



150 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

shot ill Mr. Piatt, three of which entered his arm. and two his 
body, which render his hfe despaired ol'."' 

Neic- York Mercuri/, March 10, 177S. '' :Moses Sa\n'er, who 
formerly lived at Shelter IsUuid, came over from the main a lew 
days since and robbed the tarm of "William Nicolls, Esq., at said 
island, of one hnndivd and ten bnshels of wheat ; and carried 
olfiirain belonging to Thomas Deering." 

Aeir-York Gazette, February 16, 177S. '- At two o'clock 
last Thursday morning, a party of twelve rebels seized at Co- 
ram, in Sullbllc County, two wagons loaded with dry-goods, 
the property of Obediah Wright of Soiitlianipton. These ma- 
rauders had been several days on the isUuid, visited most parts, 
and committed many robberies ; especially at the house of Col- 
onel Floyd, Setauket, which they robbed of goods and cash to 
a considerable amount ; and took some property of Mr. Dunbar, 
who rides down tlie island occnsionally, and happened to lodge 
in the house that night.'' 

Prom the same, June 19,1780. "Last Wednesday three 
boats going from New- York to Huntington, were attacked 
near Butler's Point by two rebel boats from Connecticut, 
which they beat off, after exchanging several shots ; but one of 
the boats not sailing so well as the others, was run on shore 
and burnt." 

From the same, August 13, 17S1. " Last Thursday night 
eight rebel whale-boats made their appearance at Flushing liay, 
and landed a few men ; but as they did not like the appearance 
of things, they speedily embarked."' 

From the New- York Journal, September 29, 1782. " On 
Saturday last two men were detected in transporting some 
forces to Long Island near Flushing ; they were sent to Killing- 
worth and committed to gaol, and about the same time thirty 
sail of shipping were seen under Long Island taking in wood." 
From the Long Island Star, September 10, 1813. " On 
the evening of Friday the 5th instant, eleven men belonging to 
Fire Place, went to the south shore with a seine for fish, viz. : 
William Rose, Isaac AVoodrutf, Lewis Parshall, Benjamin 
Brown, Psehemiah Hand, James Homan, Charles Ellison, 
James Prior, Daniel Parshall, Henry Homan, and John Hulse. 



SUFFOLK COLNTY. 151 

On Saturda7 morning the afHictin^ discovery was made that 
they were all drowned. The boat came on shore in pieces, 
and also eight of the bodies. The first six named persons 
had families." 

It is, perhaps, not generally known, even to the reading por- 
tion of the community, th?it any solemn judicial investigation 
of a charge of witchcraft ever took place in this State while a 
colony : although cases of this sort were common in some of 
the New England colonies in the early part of their settlement, 
and the most horrible consequences, not to say murders, en- 
sued upon the most ridiculous charges and suspicions of a cor- 
respondence between a most unfortunate class of human beings 
and the author of evil. The following narration Is extracted 
from the records in the Secretary of State's office, Book A, relat- 
ing to the Courts of Assizes, beginning in the year after the 
English conquest, in IG65. 

" At a Court of Assizes held in New- York on the 2d day of 
October, lOfj.5, the triall of Italph Hall and Mary his wife, upon 
suspicion of witchcraft ; the names of the persons who served 
on the Grand Jury, were Thomas Baker, of Easthampton, fibre- 
man of the Jury ; Captain John Symonds, of Hempstead ; Mr. 
Hallett. of Jamaica : Anthony Waters, Thomas Wandall, of 
Marshpathkill ; Mr. Nicolls, of Stamford ; Balthazer de Haart, 
John Garland, Jacob Leister, Anthonio de Mill, Alexander 
Munro, Thornas Searle, of New- York, 

•' The prisoner being brought to the barr by Allard Anthony, 
sheriff of New- York •. this following indictment was read, first 
eigainst Ralph Hall, and then against Mary his wife, viz: — 

" The constable and overseers of the towne of Seatalcott. in 
the east riding of Yorkshire, upon Ivjng island, do present, for 
our soveraigne lord the king, that Ralph Hall, of Seatalcott 
aforesaid, upon the 2.5th day of December, being Christmas 
day last was twelve months, in the fifteenth year of the raigne 
of our soverai2Tie lord Charles the Second, by the grace of 
God, king of England, Scotland, firance and Ireland, defender 
of the faith, &c,, and severall other days and times since that 
day, by some detestable and wicked arts, commonly called 
witchcraft and sorcery, did (as is saspected) maliciously and 



152 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

feloniously practise and exercise, at the said town of Seatalcott, 
in the east riding of Yorkshire, on Long Island aforesaid, on the 
person of George Wood, late of the same place, by which wick- 
ed and detestable arts the said George Wood, (as is suspected) 
most dangerously and mortally sickened and languished, and 
not long after, by the aforesaid wicked and detestable arts, the 
said George Wood (as is likewise suspected) died, 

" Moreover, the constable and overseers of the said towne of 
Seatalcott, in the east riding of Yorkshire, upon Long Island 
aforesaid, do further present, for our soveraign lord the king, 
that some while after the death of the aforesaid George Wood, 
the said Ralph Hall, did (as is suspected) divers times, by the 
like wicked and detestable arts, commonly called witchcraft 
and sorcery, maliciously and feloniously practise and exercise, 
at the said town of Seatalcott, in the east riding of Yorkshire, 
upon Long Island aforesaid, on the person of an infant child of 
Ann Rogers, widow of the aforesaid George Wood, deceased, 
by which wicked and detestable arts, the said infant (as is sus- 
pected) most dangerously and mortally sickened and languish- 
ed, and not long after, by the same wicked and detestable arts, 
(as is likewise suspected) died : and so the said constable and 
overseers do present, that the said George Wood, and the said 
infant childe, by the ways and means aforesaid, most^wickedly, 
maliciously, and feloniously were (as is suspected) murdered, 
by the said Ralph Hall, at the times and places aforesaid, 
against the peace of our soveraign lord the king, and against 
the laws of this government in such cases provided. The like 
indictment was read against Mary, the wife of Ralph Hall : 
Thereupon several depositions accusing the prisoners of the 
fact for which they were indicted, were read ; but no witnesses 
appeared to give testimony in court, viva voce, then the clerk 
calling upon Ralph Hall, bade him hold up his hand, and read 
as follows : Ralph Hall, thou standest here indicted for that, 
having not the fear of God before thine eyes, thou didst, upon 
the 25th day of December, being Christmasdaylast was twelve 
months, and at several other times since (as is suspected) by 
some wicked and detestable arts, commonly called withcraft 
and sorcery, maliciously and feloniously practise and exercise 



SUFFOLK COUNTY. 153 

upon the bodies of George Wood and an infant child of Ann 
Rogers ; by which said arts the said George Wood, and the in- 
fant child (as is suspected) most dangerously and mortally fell 
sick, and languished unto death. Ralph Hall, what dost thou 
say for thyself — art thou guilty or not guilty ? Mary, the wife 
of Ralph Hall, was called upon in like manner. They both 
pleaded not guilty, and throw themselves to be tried by God 
and the country. Whereupon their case was referred to the 
jury, who brought into the court the following verdict, viz : — 
" We having severally considered the case committed to our 
charge, against the prisoners at the bar, and having well weigh- 
ed the evidence, we find that there are some suspicions by the 
evidence of what the woman is charged with, but nothing con- 
siderable of value to take away her life ; but in reference to the 
man, we find nothing considerable to charge him with. 

" The court, therefore, gave this sentence : That the man 
should be bound, body and goods, for his wife's appearance at 
the next sessions, and so on from sessions to sessions, as long 
as they stay within this government. In the meanwhile to be 
of good behavior. So they were returned to the sheriff's cus- 
tody ; and upon entering into a recognizance according to the 
sentence of the court, they were released. 

" Appeals, actions, presentments, &c. entered for hearing and 
tryall, at the generall court of assizes, to be held in New-York, 
beginning on the first Wednesday of October, 1670 : 

" In the case of Katharine Harryson, widow, who was bound 
to the good behavior upon complaint of some of the inhabit- 
ants of Westchester, until the holding of this court. It order- 
ed, that in regard there is nothing appears against lier deserv- 
ing the continuation of that obligation, she is to be released 
from it, and hath liberty to remain in the towne of Westchester, 
where she now resides, or any where else in the government, 
during her pleasure. 

" A release to Ralph Hall, and Mary, his wife, from the recog- 
nizances they entered into at the assizes : — 

" These are to certify to all whom it may concerne, that 
Ralph Hall, and Mary, his wife , (at present living upon the 
great Minifords island) are hereby released and acquitted from 

20 



154 HISTORY OF LONO ISLAND. 

any and all recognizances, bonds of appearance or other obliga- 
tions entorod into by them or either ot' tliem, lor tlie peace or 
good behavior, upon account ot" any accusation or indictment 
upon suspicion ot" witchcrat't, brought into the court of assizes 
acriiinst them, in the year UHm ; there having l>een no diivct 
prooi's nor further prosecution of them since. Given under my 
hand at Fort James, in New- York, this 21st day of August, 
166S. K. NicoLLS." 

Names of those who hare represented the Count v of SufoJkf in the House of 
Assembly of the State (f Netc-Yitrk^from 1776 to the present tm\ 

1777. Buruet Miller, David Cn^lston, Ezra L'Hommetiievi, Thomas Tnxiwtil, 

Tiiomas NVicks. 

177S. The same. 

17T9. The same. 

17Sl). The same. 

17S1. The same. 

175*3. Tlie same. 

1753. The same. 

1754. David Gelston, Thomas Youngs, Ebenezer Plait, John Smith, JeflVey 

Smith. 
1785. The same. 
17SG. Jonathaa N. Havens, David Hedges, Thomas Youngs, JetVrcy Smith, 

Nathaniel Gai-diner. 

1787. Jonathan N. Havens, David Hevlges, Daniel Osborn. John Smith, Caleb 

Smith. 

1788. Jonathan N. Havens, John Smith, Daniel Heilges, Daniel Osborn. 

1789. Jonathan N. Havens, David Hedges, Nathaniel Gmxliner, John Smith, 

Henry Scudder. 
17;X>. Nathaniel Gardiner, Henry Scudder, John Smith, Jonathan N. Havens. 
17111. Jonathan N. Havens, John Gelston, John Smith, Philetus Smith, Thomas 

Wiokham. 
179"^. Jonathan N. Havens, John Smith, John Gelston, Henry Scudder. 
1793. .Tontt<^han N. Havens, John Smith, Ebenezer Piatt, John Gelston. 
17i)4. Jonathhn N. Havens, John Smith, John Gelston, Joshua Smith, Jr. 
1795. Jonailuin N. Havens, John Gelston, Isaac Thompson, Joslma Smith, Jr. 
179t). Abraham Miller, Silas Wood, Jared Landon, Joshua Smith, Jr. 

1797. The same. 

1798. Abraham Miller, Silas Wood, Josiah Reeve, John Howani. 

1799. Jolin Smith, Jared Landon, NicoU Floyd. 

1800. Silas Wood, John Smitli, Jared Landon, Nicoll Floyd. 

1801. Nicoll Floyd, Mills Phillips, Abraham Miller, Jared Landon. 

1802. Israel Carll, Jared Landon, Abraham Miller, Tredwell Scudder. 

1803. Israel Carll, Josiah Reeve, Jonathan Dayton. 
1604. David Hedges, Israel Carll, Sylvester Dering. 

1805. Jared Lai\don, Israel Carll, Jonathan Dayton. 

1806. The same. 



CiUEKN's COUNTY. 15 



oi) 



I'^n. Inrai;] Carll, David lic/Igc*, David Warner, 

IHOf^. f«ra/;l Carll, Jonathan Dayion, Tliorna* S. Lester. 

)H(Xi, Mill« i'hillii.H, A[<rahara Komc, Danir;! T. Tftrry. 

J'^IO. Abraham Ro»«';, John R/jhc, TnAwc.U HcAiddi-.t. 

IHl I. 'I'rr/Jwcll Hciflder, ThornaJi H. Lent^r, Jonathan fi. Conklin. 

I>^12. Ahratiarn Ro-^c, U»h<:r II. Moor';, Nathaniel Potter. 

I HI. 'J. IJcnjarnin F. Thornpion, Henry llhodex, Caleb Smith. 

IHH. Tliornas S. Lc«t«r, Nathaniel Potter, Jonathan S, Conklin. 

JHI.'i. Tredwell Scudder, John P. Ohhorn, John Wei!«. 

JHK;. Abraham Rose, Benjamin F. I'hornpson, Phineas CarlL 

1HI7. Israel Carll, Thomas H. Lester, Abraham Parsons. 

1H18. Charles f I. Havens, John P. Otsbo.'-n, Nathaniel Miller. 

IHi'.K John P. Ohborn, Isaac Conklin, Daniel Youngs. 

lo:i^). Charles fl. Havens, Abraham Parsons, Ebenezer W. Case. 

1H2I. John M. Williamson, Isaac Conklin, John P. OslK^rn. 

IH22. Tr<-.<Jwell Seudder, Hugh Halsey, John M. Williamson. 

IH'S.i. 8amuel Strong, Joshua Fleet. 

1824. Hugh Halsey, Josiah Smith. 

182.0. Joshua Hmith, David WcA'^i-.n, Jr. 

]82(;. John M. Williamson, Uhher H. Moore. 

1827. Samuel Strong, George L. Conklin. 

1828. Trfalwell Seudder, Abraham H. Gwnliner. 
W2fi. John M. WilliamHon, David HwJges, Jr. 

1830. Samuel Strong, Noah YoungB. 

1831. George H. Phillips, George L. Conklin. 

1832. John M. Williamson, Samuel L'Homrnedieu. 

1833. David HwJges, Jr. , William Wickes. 

1834. William Sidney Smith, John Terry. 
183.0. George S. Phillips, George L. Conklin. 
183G. Charles A. Floyd, Nathaniel Topping. 

1837. John M. Williamson, Josiah Dayton. 

1838. Charles A. Floyd, Sidney E. Griffin. 
183y. Joshua B. Smith, Joseph Wickham Case. 

From Bradford'ff New- York (Jazatte, May 18, 1737. 
" These arc to givo notice, that on .Monday the 16th instant, 
there dyed at the house of Plat Smith, in Srnithtown, in Suffolk 
county, on Long Island, alias Nassau Island, one Hugh Rony, 
a pedlar ; and the said I'lat Smith, not knowing certainly where 
the said Hugh Reny's relations live, he therefore gives this pub- 
he notice when and where he dyed, and that what money 
he had and his pack of goods are in the hands of the said 
Plat Smith, where his friends and relations may come and 
receive the same." 

From the same, July 17, 1780. " We heard from Setauket 
that last Friday night a party of rebels surrounded the house 



15G 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



of Doctor Pimderson, took him prisoner, and carried him t6 
Connecticut ; and on that night the same party took Mr. Wil- 
ham Jayne. jun. The rebels told Mrs. Punderson that they 
had taken the Doctor to exchange for John Smith, and Mr. 
Jayne for William Phillips, who were taken at Smithtown, at 
the widow Blydenburgh's, on a trading party." 

From the Long Island iSfar, January 24, 1815. "On the 
evening of the 16th instant, during a snow-storm, the British 
sloop of war >%//V/, rating eighteen guns and three hundred 
and ninety tons, commanded by Capt. Dickens, with a crew of 
officers and men, in number one hundred and seventeen, went 
ashore on the south side of Loner Island, near Shinecock. She 
drove over the bar, head onwards, within a few rods of the 
shore. The inhabitants attempted to give relief, but the height 
of the surf and the violence of the wind made it impossible to 
reach the vessel. Sixty of the crew were safe in the main-top 
and rigging until eight o'clock, when a tremendous sea cap- 
sized the vessel, and broke her in two, fore and aft. OvAy jive 
of the crew were saved, and one Jmndred and eleven drowned. 
Tile captain was a young man, and had been lately married. 
Some of the bodies were found near the wreck, others floated 
as far west as Fire Place, and even to Fire Island Inlet. The 
Immanity and kindness of the people of Southampton, were 
handsomely acknowledged in the account given to Commodore 
Hotham, and nobly responded to by him." 

EXTRACT FROM THE STATE CENSUS OF 1835. 



1 \ 








2 








S 


























o. 






a 


■r-3 


























S 




c 


^ 


Cjj 


























<» 




2£ 


c 2 


1^ 


























ti 




c c 




a ^ 
_ c 


























u. rt 




"H-c 


^ V- 


z: •= 






t^ 
















00 

c 
c 
IP 






_X 


Z2 




l| 






c 

o 

u 


_« 








Towns. 


00 


en 

o 

1 


o 


3 

a 


.a 
S 

3 




M c 
tS 


a > 


.S 


2 

o 


c 
w 
B 

o 


u 

03 


00 

o 


o. 


c 




S 


fci 


H 


a. 


"Z 


o 


^; 


>< 


> 


1 


U 


0. 


Z 




m 


a 

"3846 


Hrookiinv^ii. 


3162 


3404 


fi6 


10 


35141 




5556 


4675 


4850 


579 


1410 


513 


4590 


1294 


8451 


Kastliainpton. 


ssi:t 


i)2(i 


1819 


12 


17827 


R 


1785 


2365 


1508 


187 


405 


108 


2487 


473 


490.3 


1013 


Huntington. 


27(!.') 


2733 


5498 


16 


32532 


9 


3272 


771 


359 


591 


1220 


312 


3530 


1.387 


11044 


3833 


Islip. 


784 


744 


1528 


5 


8016 




711 


712 


577 


110 


3'2!l 


207 


1634 


289 


1307 


1108 


Riverlirad. 


1074 


IVM 


2138 


16 


]2:«I2 




1909 


1514 


1202 


278 


473 


57 


2234 


522 


1930 


1328 


Siniilitown. 


199 


781 


1.580 


4 


10937 




947 


969 


485 


122 


3(13 


2;!8 


1581 


443 


3890 


1552 


Boiittiold. 


1(100 


i33r 


2*136 


21 


2;!351 




2954 


4912 


1698 


265 


-Osl 


58 


3751 


(i89 


3786 


2084 


Siuittianiptnn 


2652 


2()2 


5275 


15 


23 105 


IC 


2993 


5410 


2431 


5431C50 


494 


4738 


828 


5416 


2131 


Slieltfr IsNiiul 


152 


181 


333 


2 


4836 


1 
50 


80 


50 


53 


16 62 


21 


426 


63 


2837 


266 


Toial 


14581 


13793 


30673 


I0lil68047 


20207 


21378 


1338? 


2691(6034 


2CC8 


24971 


5988 


43570117768 



QUEEN S COUNTY. 



157 



Extract from the common school returns, 
JANUARY 5, 1838. 



I 





"3 
o 


ti 




■ ~ "5 
3 3 


t 

(8 




len 
n 5 


blic 

d to 




m 2 
o 


- ?- 






-a , 




u a) ra 


a a> 


Towns. 






-5 jr 


5 >> X 


1" 

a 


-2 'S 


O QJ 


unt 
ydisti 
distric 




a 


c ;:: 


^ C 


o ^ ^ 


o 


2 Tc 


25:: 


?s 




3 


^ _i 


> o 


E O 


£ 


a a 


= -^ 


S o 






33 




< s 


<1 


1885 


s.s s 


<! S 


Brookliaveru 


$fi33,10 


.if;2435,18 


1859 


$002,39 


Easthanipton. 


(i 


(i 


9 


178,00 


49 1 ,0f) 


355 


450 


178,04 


F-Iuiitmgton. 


2(i 


23 


8 


586,2.'5 


30(;4,90 


1434 


1700 


566,29 


-I.slip. 


8 


H 


10 


170,43 


520,53 


433 


52( 


162,68 


Riverhead.J 


\\i 


1-2 


10 


202,9.5 


719,47 


54i) 


57; 


212,12 


Shelter Island. 


1 


1 


11 


33,H0 


230.00 


95 


90 


33,80 


JSmiduown. 


11 


10 


8 


175,35 


554,95 


410 


472 


167,00 


Southampton. 


lit 


IS 


9 


474,18 


1343,4(5 


1185 


1342 


503.79 


Southold. 


11 
133 


14 
12.5 


10 
9 


300,67 
S2754,73 


1477,73 


953 


807 


311,71 


Total 


$9837,31 


7299 


7884 


S2797,82 



aUEEN'S COUNTY. 



This county was organized March 1, 1C83, and now contains 
all that part of Long Island which is bounded easterly by Suf- 
folk County ; southerly by the Atlantic Ocean ; northerly by 
Long Island Sound ; and westerly by King's County, including 
liloyd's Neck or Q,ueen's Village, the islands called the North 
and South Brother, Riker's Island formerly called Hallet's Is- 
land, and all the other islands lying in the Sound opposite the 
said bounds and southerly of the main channel. It is sub-di- 
vided into six townships, namely : Jamaica, Newtown, Flush- 
ing, North Hempstead, Hempstead, and Oyster Bay. It ap- 
pears, from several public documents which have been preserv- 
ed, that the courts of the county were originally held for the 
most part at Hempstead, and where the governor ordered meet- 
ings of delegates from the different towns on various occasions. 
By the act of assembly passed 1683, by which the counties 
and towns upon Long Island were organized and established, 
the county courts were required thereafter to be held at the vil- 
lage of Jamaica. They were held there for about seven ^/-ears 
in the old stone church, which stood in the middle of the pre- 



158 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

sent Fulton Street opposite Union Hall Street. In the year 1690 
a court-house and jail were erected upon the site now occupied 
by the Female Academy, and continued to be used for the 
purpose of holding the courts of the'' county until the pre- 
sent court-house was built upon the north side of Hempstead 
Plains, in the town of North Hempstead, in the year 1778. 
Why this location was chosen, it is difficult to determine, ex- 
cept from the circumstance of its being near the geographical 
centre of the county. The records of this county commence 
with its organization, and the first entry is a release from one 
James Feeke, dated Feb. 1, 1683. At this time John Bowne 
was treasurer of the county. His dwelling-house in Flushing, 
which was erected in 1661, is still standing, and bids fair to 
last another half century. 

At a court of sessions held at Jamaica on the 8th of June, 
1675, the following officers were present : Mathias NicoUs, 
(secretary,) president ; Chidley Brooke, councillor ; and Sylves- 
ter Salisbury, high sheriff. Thomas Hicks was appointed 
judge under the commission of Governor Andross, and in pur- 
suance of the act of assembly, in the year 1691, and held the of- 
fice till 1699 ; at which time an ordinance was passed in rela- 
tion to the office of judges of the common pleas, and by au- 
thority of which the following named persons were appointed, 
and held their offices for the periods mentioned respectively. 

From 1699 to 1703, John Coe. 

1703 to 1710, Thomas Willet. 

1710 to 1723, Thomas Willet and John Jackson. 

1723 to 1730, Thomas Willet and Isaac Hicks. 

1730 to 1734, Isaac Hicks, David Jones, and John Tallman. 

1734 to 1738, David Jones, John Messenger, and James Hazzard. 

1738 to 1740, David Jones, James Hazzard, and Thomas Hicks. 

1740 to 1749, James Hazzard. Thomas Hicks, and John Willet. 

1749 to 1756, Thomas Hicks, David Seaman, and Joseph Sacket. 

1756 to 1757, Thomas Hicks, Jacob Smith, and Penn Townsend. 

1757 to 1771, Thomas Hicks, Valentine H. Peters, and Penn Townsend. 
1771 to 1774, Thomas Hicks, Valentine H. Peters, and Daniel Kissam. 

The several clerks of the county, from its formation to the 
revolution, were as follows : 

From 1G83 to 1G88, William Nicolls. 1710 to 1722, Joseph Smith. 

1688 to 1702, Andrew Gibb. 1722 to 1757, Andrew Clark. 



queen's county. 159 

1702 to 1710, Samuel Clowes, 1757 to 1770, Whitehead Hicks. 

From 1770 to 1775, Thomas Jones. 

The following persons were elected to the assembly at dif- 
ferent periods, from its origin in 1691 to the revolution : 

Daniel Whitehead, from 1691 to 1705. Isaac Hicks, from 1716 to 1739. 

John Robinson, 1691 to 1693. Benjamin Hicks, 1726 to 1737. 

John Jackson, 1693 to 1709. David Jones, 1737 to 1757. 

Jonathan Whitehead, 1705 to 1709. Thomas Cornell, 1739 to 1759. 

John Tallman, 1709 to 1710. Thomas Hicks, 1759 to 1761. 

John Townsend, 1709 to 17)0. Thomas Cornell, 1761 to 1764. 

John Jackson, 1710 to 1716. Zebulan Seamen, 1759 to 1774. 

Thomas Willet, 1710 to 1726. Daniel Kissam, 1764 to 1775. 

Thomas Willet was a member of the council from 1677 to 
1692. Jacob Blackwell and John Tallman were appointed 
deputies from this county to the convention at New- York, 
April 10, 1775, to choose delegates to the continental congress. 
The members of the provincial convention, which assembled in 
May, 1775, were Jacob Blackwell, Captain Jonathan Lawrence, 
Daniel Rapelje, Zebulan Williams, Joseph French, Joseph 
Robinson, Nathaniel Tom, Thomas Hicks, and Richard 
Thorn. The persons elected to form the constitution of this 
state in 1777, were Jonathan Lawrence, Rev. Abraham Kettle- 
tas, Samuel Townsend, James Townsend, Jacob Blackwell, 
and Mr. Van Wyck. The members of the convention which 
met at Poughkeepsie, June 17, 1778, and adopted the constitu- 
tion of the United States, were Samuel Jones, John Schenck, 
Nathaniel Lawrence, and Stephen Carman. 

The population of this county at different periods has been 
as follows: In 1731, 7895; in 1771,10980; in 1786,13084; 
in 1790, 16014 ; in 1800, 16983 ; in 1810, 19336 ; in 1820, 
20519 ; in 1825, 20331 ; in 1830,22460; and in 1835, 25130. 

The surrogates of this county, since the institution of the of- 
fice, have been appointed as follows : Joseph Robinson, 1787 ; 
David Lamberson, 1815 ; John D. Ditmas, 1820 ; John W. 
Seaman, 1821 ; Nicholas Wyckoff, 1826 ; and Henry L 
Hagner, 1834. 

The office of first judge of the county courts has been held 
successively by Benjamin Coe, Cary Dunn, Effingham Law- 
rence, James Lent, Singleton Mitchell, and Benjamin W. Strong. 



160 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

The office of county clerk has been held as follows : Abra- 
ham Skinner, from 1778 to 1796. Daniel Kissam, from 1796 
to 1812. Walter Burling, from 1812 to 1820. Edward Parker, 
from 1820 to 1821. Samuel Sherman, from 1821 to 1835; 
firom which time it has been held by John Simonson. 

Eliphalet Wickes was appointed district attorney for the 
county in 1818 ; William T. McCoun in 1821 ; Benjamin F. 
Thompson in 1826 ; and William H. Barroll in 1836. 

Delegates to the convention in 1821 for amending the con- 
stitution of this state, Rufus King, Elbert H. Jones, and Na- 
thaniel Seaman. 

The following list contains the names of those who have 
represented the county in the house of assembly since the year 
1776: 

1777. Philip Edsall, Daniel Lawrence, Benjamin Coe, Benjamin Birdsall. 

1778. The same. 

1779. Benjamin Birdsall, Daniel Lawrence, Benjamin Coe. 

1780. Philip Edsall, Daniel Lawrence, Benjamin Coe, Benjamin Bird&all. 

1781. Benjamin Coe, Daniel Lawrence, Benjamin Birdsall. 

1782. Philip Edsall, Daniel Lawrence, Benjamin Coe, Benjamin Birdsall. 

1783. Benjamin Coe, Daniel Lawrence, Benjamin Birdsall, Nathaniel Tom. 

1784. Hendrick Onderdonk, James Townsend, Samuel Riker, Benjamin Coe. 

1785. James Townsend, John Sands, Joseph Lawrence, Abraham Skinner. 

1786. Samuel Jones, Daniel Whitehead, James Townsend, Daniel Duryea. 

1787. John Townsend, Samuel Jones, Richard Thorn, John Schenck. 

1788. Samuel Jones, Stephen Carman, Whitehead Cornell, Francis Lewis. 

1789. Samuel Jones, Stephen Carman, Whitehead Cornell, John Schenck. 

1790. Samuel Jones, Stephen Carman, Samuel Clowes, Benjamin Coe. 

1791. Samuel Clowes, John Schenck, Samuel L. Mitchill, Nathaniel Lawrence. 

1792. Samuel Clowes, Whitehead Cornell, Nathaniel Lawrence. 

1793. Jacob Hicks, Samuel Clowes, Whitehead Cornell. 

1794. Harry Peters, Samuel Youngs, Samuel Clowes. 

1795. Nathaniel Lawrence, Samuel Clowes, Stephen Carman. 

1796. The same. 

1797. Lewis Cornell, Daniel Kissam, John M. Smith, William Pearsall, 

1798. William Pearsall, John 1. Skidmore, Stephen Carman, Whitehead Cor- 

nell. 

1799. John J. Skidmore, John M. Smith, Stephen Carman, Whitehead Cor- 

nell. 

1800. Abraham Monfort, Isaac Denton, Jonah Hallet, John I- Skidmore. 

1801. Jonah Hallet, Joseph Pettit, Abraham Monfort, John I. Skidmore. 

1802. John D. Ditmas, Joseph Pettit, William Mott, Abraham Monfort. 
1H03. Stephen Carman, Henry O. Seamen, Abraham Monfort. 

1804. Stephen Carman, John D. Ditmas, William Mott. 

1805. Henry O. Seaman, Stephen Carman, Benjamin Coe. 



uoeen's county. 161 

1806. Henry O. Seaman, Benjamin Coe, John W. Seaman. 

1807. Henry O. Seaman, William Mott, Stephen Carman. 

1808. Henry O. Seaman, John W. Seaman, Jacobus Monfort. 

1809. Stephen Carman, William Townsend, Daniel Kissam. 

1810. The same. " 

1811. The same. . . 

1812. The same. 

1813. Stephen Carman, Daniel Kissam, John Fleet. 

1814. Daniel Kissam, Stephen Carman, Solomon Wooden. 
1815i The same. 

1816. Stephen Carman, Daniel Kissam, William Jones, 

1817. The same. 

1818. The same. 

1819. John A. King, Stephen Carman, Daniel Kissam. 

1820. John A. King, Thomas Tredwell, William Jones. 
182li John A. King, John D. Hicks, Benjamin T. Kissam. 

1822. William Jones, Timothy Nostrand, Thomas Tredwell. 

1823. Benjamin T. Kissam, John D. Hicks. 

1824. William Jones, Thomas Tredwell. 
182.1. The same. 

1826. The same. 

1827. The same. 

1828. The same. 

1829. Henry F. Jones. 

1830. The same. 

1831. Thomas Tredwell. 

1832. John A. King. 
1883. Thomas B. Jackson. 

1834. The same. 

1835. The same. 

1836. Jarvis Jackson. 

1837. The same. 

1838. John A. King. 

1839. Elias Hicks. 

Although prosecutions for the supposed crime of witch- 
craft were not uncommon in some of the New England colo- 
nies at an early period of the settlements, and many hapless 
victims were sacrificed to this unaccountable delusion, yet 
it is believed that charges of this kind were very rare in 
this part of the country, and no person was ever executed 
in this colony on that account. It is, however, ascertained 
that at least one individual in this county was suspected of a secret 
correspondence with the author of evil, and measures were 
taken to bring the supposed culprit to trial. In the year 1660, 
suspicions of this nature fell upon one Mary Wright, a very 

21 



162 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

poor but ignorant woman of the town of Oyster Bay ; and it be- 
came a matter of grave necessity, that an oflence of such enor- 
mous depravity should be fully and satisfactorily mvestigated. 
But as there existed at that time no domestic tribunal, which the 
people considered competent to hear and determine a matter of 
such magnitude, or none to which they thought proper to sub- 
mit the case, it was finally concluded to transport the accused 
party to the general court of Massachusetts, where charges of 
this sort were more common, and the proofs necessary to sup- 
port them better understood. She was accordingly arraigned 
there, and the matter inquired into with all the formality usual 
on such occasions. The evidence of her guilt failed, and she 
was acquitted of the crime of witchcraft. She was, neverthe- 
less, convicted of being a Quaker, a crime, in the estimation of 
the court, of almost equal enormity ; and was sentenced to be 
banished out of the jurisdiction. In the general assembly of 
this province, on the 22d day of September, 1701, Thomas 
Willet, John Tallman, and John Willet, members from this 
county, were expelled from the house, and declared guilty of a 
contempt, for contumaciously refusing to take their seats in the 
assembly, and also for sending a paper to the house, written, 
as the committee reported, in barbarous English, and shewing 
their ignorance and unacqiiaintedness with the English lan- 
guage. This curious paper is so peculiar in its style and mat- 
ter, as to be an object of some curiosity at this day, and there- 
fore worthy of preservation. The following is a literal copy 
from the journals of the assembly of that period : 

" On the 20th day of Ougost last, the house, consisting of 2 
Persons, wheareof the Speeker was one, Tenn of the number 
did in the House chalings the Speeker to be unquallified, for his 
being an aliane, and afterwardes did repetit the same to the Gov- 
ner, which they have all so giv in under theare hands ; upon 
which heed the House being equally divided, could giv noe de- 
cision. Till you giv us fader satisfacktion, and the Speeker 
clere him self from being an aliane, we cannot acte with you, 
to sit and spend ower Tyme, and the country's money, to mak 
actes that will be voyd in themselves." The following is from 
the New- York Gazette of September, 1777 : " Whereas, I, Ben- 



QUEKN^S COUNTY. 163 

jamin Carpenter, of Jamaica, butcher, did, on the 22d day of 
August last, violently assault and beat Joseph French, Esq., 
one of his Majesty's justices for Queen's County, at a time when 
his hands were held, and did otherwise greatly abuse him in 
the execution of his office ; I do therefore in this public manner 
declare that I am sorry for what has happened, and most hum- 
bly beg forgiveness. 1 do further declare, that 1 will of my 
own accord cause this my acknowlegement to be inserted for 
two weeks successively in the public newspapers of the city 
of New-York ; that 1 will, at the head of each company of mi- 
litia of said county, at their next muster, read this my acknow- 
legement ; and I will immediately pay into the hands of the 
churchwardens of the town of Jamaica the sum of five pounds 
currency, for the use of the poor of said town. 

" Benjamin Carpenter." 

From the New-York Journal of February 10, 1774: " We 
hear from Long Island, that on Saturday, the 29th ult., as Dr. 
William Lawrence, of Musquito Cove, was returning from the 
city in a sleigh, wherein with him were Mr. Jordan Coles, and 
Mrs. Carpenter, widow of Mr. Thorn Carpenter, deceased, 
when they were got near home, in descending a long steep hill, 
where a large rock projected into the road, the horses, taking 
fright, ran violently down the hill, when one of them running 
against the rock, was killed dead on the spot, and the people 
thrown out of the sleigh. Dr. Lawrence escaped with little 
hurt, Mr. Coles was considerably injured, and Mrs. Carpenter 
much more." 

EXTRACTS FROM OLD RECORDS, NEWSPAPERS, <fec. 

Court of Sessions, held at Jamaica, for the North-riding; 
April 2d, 1667. "Cause tried between Thomas Ochel, plain- 
tiff, and John Bale, defendant. George Cummings, witness, 
heard John Bale's wife tell her husband that he and Ochel 
made exchange about two hats, and that he was to give ten 
shillings to boot if her husband was willing, and at the hear- 
ing of it grumbled, but could not tell what Ae said, but she said 
she hoped her husband had more wit than that. The court has 



164 HISTORY OF LONG ISLANO. 

scriousit/ considered the business aHout the two hats, and seeing 
that John Bale wore the hat, and did not return Thomas Ochel's 
hat again ; Ordered that Jolin Bale pay Thon'as Ochel ten sliil- 
lings for the hat, and what he owes him besides, and costs." 

" Ordered at tlie same court, that Richard Oi^den and John 
Ludhun shall take order of every man's arms and ammunition 
within /ojrer days after the end of this weeke, and for neglect 
herein shall pay five shillings a man, and wliat palpable and 
aparant defects they shall find, shall return to the authority .1 
the plase." 

" Also it was agreed that every man of our inhabitants hav- 
ing sufficient warning to a town meeting, that every man • ; 11 
come to the plase at the hour appointed, and for neglect, shall pay 
as followeth : for not coming at the hour, sixpence ; for not 
comeing at all, two shillings; and for departing away with- 
out license, twelve pence." 

Court of Sessions, held at Jamaica, April 10, 1071. "Sa- 
muel Davis having by his own confession taken awaydivers par- 
ticulars, and also a jug, from a private place where an old squaw 
had hid them, and the said squaw making her complaint against 
him, he hath three days allowed to make the said squaw satisfac- 
tion. And the magistrates do further award that the said Samuel 
Davis, upon penalty often pounds, shall appear at the next ses- 
sions in September, to answer this said fact, and in the mean 
time to be of the good behavior." 

FroTH the New- York Gazette, March I2th, 1726. " On 
Friday last, died at Jamaica, Queen's County, Samuel Mills, 
yeoman, (who was born in America,) aged ninety-five years. 
He was always a very laborious, honest man, of a very tempe- 
rate life, and was able to do a good day's work but a few days 
before he died. He lived sixty-eight years with one wife, who 
is still alive, by whom he had sixteen children. He hath left 
behind him nine children, eighty grand-children, and fifty-four 
great-grand-children, and several of his great-grand-children are 
marriageable. His wife was delivered of a child when she was 
one and fifty years of age." 

From the Co?istitutional Gazette, January 27, 1776. " On 
Tuesday last, seven hundred Jersey militia, and three hundred 



queen's colntv. 165 

Jersey regulars, entered Queen's County to disarm those who 
opposed American liberty ; and although they have repeatedly 
declared their resolution of defending their arms at the risk of 
their lives, yet such is the badness of their cause, (which no 
doubt rendered them cowards,) that they were disarmed with- 
out opposition ; and the generality of thom have sworn to abide 
by the measures of the congress. Two young men bronght 
seventeen prisoners into Hempstead with their arms ; and 
a boy of twelve years of age demanded a pair of pistols of a 
man who had threatened to shoot the first person that attempt- 
ed to dis.irra him, but with fear and trembling delivered his 
pistols to the boy, who bronght them away in triumph." 

Ill Provincial Conrrr ess, New- York. February 19, 1776. 
•• The petition of William Cock and Thomas Cock of Oys- 
ter B ly in (dueen's County, was read and filed, in the words 
following, to wit :—'■ The petition of William and Thomas 
Cock humbly sheweth, that v/e your petitioners are inhabitants 
of said county, and that at the last election of deputies for the 
provincial congress we opposed the election of deputies for said 
county ; since which we are convinced of our error, and think 
it was absolutely necessary that there should be a representa- 
tion of said county. And your petitioners did not oppose the 
choice of said deputies from any desire or inclination of injur- 
ing this country, but was owing entirely to error of judgment. 
And that your petitioners are ready to obey all orders and re- 
commendations of the continental and provincial congresses. 
Your petitioners therefore desire that your honorable body will 
take our case into consideration, and grant us such relief in the 
premises as to you shall seem meet. (Signed) 

'William Cock, 
'Thoma.s Cock.' 
" On hearing the said petition read, and upon due considera- 
tion thereof, and considering that any former resolves of this 
congress against the delinquents of Queen's County were only 
intended to convince them of their error, and brinp them to a 
just sense of their duty to the public. — Ordered, that the said 
p.'titioners be restored to the state and condition in which they 



16G HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

were before the passing of the said resolves, during their good 
behavior. A true copy from the minutes. 

" RoBKRT Benson, Secretary.''^ 
Address of the people of Qjieen^s Coiinty to Governor Try- 
on, October 2\^\77^. " To his Excellency William Tryon, 
governor of the province of New- York. We, the freeholders 
and inhabitants ofQ-ueen's County, are happy once again to 
address your Excellency in the capital of the province. Anxious- 
ly do we look forward to the period when the disobedient shall re- 
turn to their duty, and the ravages of war cease to desolate this 
once flourishing country. That we may be restored to the 
king's most gracious protection. We entreat your Excellency 
to present our petition, and rely on your known humanity and 
benevolence for the exertion of your influence in behalf of the 
well-affected county of Q,ueens, that it may again, in the bosom 
of peace, enjoy the royal favor, under your Excellency's pater- 
nal care and attention. Signed, by desire, and in behalf of the 
freeholders and inhabitants of Q,ueen's County, 

" David Golden." 

Extract of a letter from Governor Tryon to Lord George 
Germaine, December 24, 1776 : 

" On the 10th instant I reviewed the militia of dueen's Coun- 
ty, at Hempstead, when eight hundred and twenty men were 
mustered ; and on Thursday following I saw the Suffolk mili- 
tia at Brookhaven, where eight hundred men appeared ; to 
all of whom, as well as to the militia of Queen's County, 
I had in my presence an oath of allegiance and fidelity ad- 
ministered. A very large majority of the inhabitants of 
Q,ueen's County have indeed steadfastly maintained their loy- 
al principles, as have small districts in Suffolk County. Three 
companies, Uearned, had been raised out of Suffolk County for 
the rebel army, most of whom, I was made to understand, 
would quit the service if they could get home. While on Long 
Island, I gave certificates to near three thousand men, who 
signed the declaration presented by the king's commissioner's 
proclamation of the 30lh of November last. Large bodies of 
the people have already taken the benefit of the grace therein 
offered them." 



(iUEEN's COUNTY. 167 

From Hugh Game's New- York Gazette, July 27, 1780. 
■*' Mr. Gaine : Sir — As the account of tlie capture of the crew 
belonging to the rebel privateer sloop Reveniie, published in 
your paper of the 10th mstant, is wrong in several particulars, 
you will please insert the following : — Thirteen of the militia of 
loyal Queen^s County, commanded by Ensign Elijah Wood, 
namely, Joseph Mott, John Mott, Joseph Ray nor, Elijah Ray- 
7ior, Ezekiel Raynor, RJteuhen Pine, Betijamin Palmer, 
Abel Southard, [who was wounded,) Richard Green, Amos 
Shaw, Isaac Smith, Josejih Smith, William, R. Sm.ith, assem- 
bled, and after a skirmish of six hours, took ten of the rebels 
prisoners, together with their boat. Ensign Wood was then 
reinforced by twenty-six more, namely Lieutenant McKain, 
an officer on half-pay, Israel Snjith, Stephen Powell, "William 
Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Abraham Simonson, Joshua Petrit, 
William Pettit, James Pettit, Morris Green, William Pearsall, 
James Denton, James Southard, Elijah Cornell, Rlieuben Jack- 
son, Benjamin Cornell, Elijah Handly, Uriah Seaman, Barna- 
bas Smith, David Pine, Michael Demott, (a trooper,) Joseph 
Dorlon and Alexander Dunlap." 

From, the Neiv- York Mercury, September 1, 1760. ''Lately 
died, at Jamaica on Long Island, after a few days' illness, Sa- 
muel Clowes, Esq., in his eighty-seventh year. He was for 
many years a noted lawyer, and was skilled in mathematics, in 
which he was instructed by the famous Dr. Flamstead. He . 
has left a numerous posterity and an unblemished character." 

New- York Gazette, September iO, 1780. "Last Sunday 
night died, at Jamaica on Long Island, of a very painful illness, 
Doctor Jacob Ogden, in the 59 th year of his age. Through a 
long course of successful practice he acquired an extensive 
and respectable acquaintance, who valued him for his great 
kindness of heart, which marks the honest and benevolent man. 
To the community in general his death must prove a loss ; but 
when applied to the private feelings of a family, who tenderly 
loved him, it becomes the heaviest of calamities." 

Independent Gazette, Dec. \ 3, 1783. " On Monday, the 
glorious event of peace was celebrated by the Whig inhabitants 
of Q,ueen's County at Jamaica. At sunrise, a volley was fired 



168 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



by the continental troops stationed in town, and the thirteen 
stripes were displayed on a liberty-pole, which had been erect- 
ed for the purpose. At four o'clock a number of g^entlemen of 
the county and officers of the army who were in the neighbor- 
hood, sat down to an elegant dinner, attended by the music of 
a most excellent band, formerly belonging to ihe line of this state. 
After drinking thirteen toasts, the gentlemen marched in column, 
thirteen abreast, in procession through tlie village, preceded by the 
music, and saluting the colors as they passed. In the evening 
every house in the village, and several miles around, was most 
brilliantly illuminated, and a ball given to the ladies concluded 
the whole. It was pleasing to view the different expressions of joy 
and gratitude apparent in every countenance on the occasion. In 
short, the whole was conducted with the greatest harmony, and 
gave universal satisfaction. An address was likewise agreed 
upon, to his Excellency George Clinton, governor of the state, 
and signed by Francis Lewis, John Sands, Richard Thorn, 
Joseph Robinson, Prior Townsend, Abraham Skinner, Benja- 
min Coe, Robert Furman, and James Burling. 

" The governor returned a very polite answer on the 12th, 
in which he thanked them for their respectful address, and con- 
cluded by saying, ' You have now abundant opportunities, 
which I have the highest confidence you will cheerfully em- 
brace, of manifesting your patriotism by a firm attachment to 
our excellent constitution, and a steady support of good govern- 
ment, domestic tranquillity, and the national justice and honor.' 

" George Clinton." 

The following is a list of ju^itices of the peace for Queen's 
County, in the year 1783 : 



Thomas Hicks, 
Jacob Stnitli, 
Penii Townsend, 
Josiah Martin, 
James Hazzard, 
Daniel Rapelyea, jun. 
Abraham Polhemus, 
Daniel Kissam, 
William Jones, 
Joseph Kissam, 
Samuel Smith, 
Direck Elbertson, 



Thomas Belts, 

Benjamin Woolsey, 

John Wyckoff, 

James Denton, 
Isaac Smith, 

Thomas Smith, 

John Belts, 
Benjamin Whitehead, 
Benjamin Hewlett, 
John Van Wyck, 
Peter Tallman, 
Richard Alsop, 



Samuel Smith, jun. 
John Jackson, 
Samuel Townsend, 
Christopher Robert, 
Tallman Waters, 
Philip Edsall, 
Henderick Brinkerhoff. 
Samuel Moore, jun. 
Hendrick Eldert, 
Joseph Skid more, 
Samuel Clowes. 



king's county. 



169 



EXTRACT FROM THE STATE CENSUS OF 1835 FOR THE 
COUNTY OF aUEENS. 













■a 




1 


-a 
3 


5t3 
























3 




o 


K . 


c2 
























■o 




■^ 


= o 


«« 


























u 






o — 


-^ o 


























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» r 






u, 




















o 




h-3 


= c 








o 




















o. 




^ = 


Ss 


5? 






o 










Towns. 


1 

C3 


in 


o 
n 

a. 
"a 
o 


2 

o. 
m 


o 

CO 


i 
.2 


O 

o 

tn 

•a 

C3 


m o 


X ^ 

13 C 

5S 


■s 


O 


o 
c 

0) 




a.' 
o 


6. 
t 

CO 






s 


b. 


H 


30 


<: 


o 


>- 


> 


>H 


S. 


M 


a. 


K 


K 


as 

29.38 


Hempstead. 


330t) 


3348 


6654 


29.-I01 


13 


2005 


718 


137 


711 


1400 


375 


3800 


1691 


2820 


Oyster Bay. 


'2536 


2547 


5083 


9 


34261 


5 


I75(i 


2696 


i:t56 


874 


1145 


295 


4727 


1866 


15147 


5622 


North Hempstead 


171,5 


1645 


3360 


10 


29738 


9 


548 


1245 


912 


322 


646 


693 


2655 


1132 


8177 


4430 


Flushing. 


1904 


173'J 


3643 


9 


13090 


5 


291 


293 


216 


220 


537 


672 


1852 


816 


3605 


2718 


Jamaica. 


1488 


1307 


2885 


4 


12204 


5 


12 


330 


78 


2<i9 


557 


328 


1558 


799 


115 


1178 


Newtown. 


1901 


1604 


3505 


9 


10683 


3 


302 


270 


176 


253 


502 


364 


1716 


801 


225 


1572 


Total. 


liJ850 


12280 


25130 71 


129537 


t0'55]4l 


5552 


2875 


-'64ii 


4797 


2727 


16308 71651 


!0089 


18458 



EXTRACT FROM THE RETURNS OF COMMON SCHOOLS TO THE 
LEGISLATURE, JANUARY 5, 1838. 







<B 


73 


6 1 


a 


S i; 


i 


o 






.2 "^ 


o 


o T3 


^ 

u. 


•2 « 


XI 

Co 


S 










■ -• rr 








.— ' qi 




o 

'u 


s t 
2 E 


JNo.ofi 
he yeai 


of publ 
eived a 
nded. 


-a . 




■3 T3 

o c 


7) 3 
O to 


Towns. 


T3 
1 




CO ■" 


-> " s 

1 " ^ 


3 
O 


■if. 

3 3 


3 






8 


d 

6 


< 

7 


<1 "■ 


< 


^5 


^ 


<1 


Flu.shing. 


S'333,03 


S251,36 


219 


787 


$ 333,03 


Hempstead. 


17 


17 


9 


638,77 


1478,05 


1054 


1928 


653,77 


Jamaica. 


8 


7 


9 


2-21,66 


970,96 


395 


735 


274,85 


Newtown. 


8 


6 


11 


279,66 


1833,47 


444 


676 


318,73 


N. Hempstead. 


10 


G 


9 


259,15 


788,96 


241 


578 


337,58 


Oyster Bay. 


20 

77 


10 

58 


9 
9 


759,54 


1758,68 


882 


1398 


1149,24 


Total. 


,ft-2491,81 


S7081,49 


3235 


6102 


$3067,20 



KING'S COUNTY. 

This county was organized the 1st of November, 1683, by 
an act dividing the province into counties, and abolishing the 
ridings which previously existed. It is bounded easterly by 
Q,ueen's County, northerly by the county of New- York, wester- 
ly by the middle of the main channel of the Hudson River, 

22 



170 HISTORY OF LOXG ISLAND. 

from the southern boundary of the comity of Now-York, to the 
ocean, and southerly by the Atlantic Ocean ; inchiding Phim 
Island, Barren Island, Coney Island, and other islands south of 
the town of Gravesend. 

It is divided into six towns ; namely, Bushwick, Brooklyn, 
Flatbush, Flatlands, New Utrecht, and Gravesend. The courts 
of this county were originally held in the village of Gravesend, 
and the court house was erected upon one of the squares of the 
village plot, near the place now occupied by the Reformed 
Dutch Church. The courts were removed, in 1686, to the vil- 
lage of Flatbush, in pursuance of an act of the colonial assem- 
bly, which had been passed the preceding year. One of the 
most ancient entries that has been discovered upon the records 
of this county is contained in the following words : — " At a 
court of sessions held at Gravesend the 16th day of June, by his 
Majesty's authority, in the twenty-first year of the reign of our 
Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by the grace of God, of 
Great Brittaine, ffrance, and Ireland, King, Defender of the 
fFaith, &c., in the year of our Lord 1669. 

" Present, Mathias Nicolls, Esquire, Secretary, President. 
"Mr. Cornelius Van Ruyven, Captain "j 

John Manning, Mr. James Hubbard, V Justices. 

and Mr. Richard Betts, J 

" Whereas, daring this court of sessions, there hath been 
several misdemeanors committed in contempt of authority in 
this town of Gravesend, by one throwing down the stocks, 
pulling down of ffences, and such like crimes ; the court also 
find that there was no watch in the town which might have 
prevented it ; and being the offenders cannot be discovered, it 
is ordered that the town stand fined in five pounds till they 
have made discovery of the offenders." Many other acts of the 
like kind are noticed in the records, which exhibit the mischiev- 
ous disposition of some portion of the people at an early period. 
Among others, is the following : 

" Sept. 14, 1696, about eight o'clock in the evening, John 
Rapale, Isaac Remsen, Joras Yannester, Joras Danielse Ra- 
pale, Jacob Reyersen, Aert Aersen, Tunis Buys, Garret Cow- 
enhoven, Gabriel Sprong, Urian Andriese, John Williamse 



KING'S COUNTY. 



171 



Bennet, Jacob Beniiet, and John Meserole, jr,, met armed at 
the court-house of Kings, where they destroyed and defaced 
the king's arms which were hanging up there." 

The first court-house at Flatbush was erected in 1685, and re- 
mained till a larger one was built there in 1758, the expenses of 
which, amounting to four hundred and forty-eight pounds, were 
raised by an assessment upon the inhabitants of the county. It 
became so much out of repair, and was found in many respects 
so inconvenient; that anew court and jail were erected in 1792, 
and stood till destroyed by fire on the 30th of November, 1832. 
Since which time the county courts have been holden in the 
town of Brooklyn. It is reported that the prisoners, with one 
exception, exerted themselves during the conflagration to ex- 
tinguish the flames, and immediately voluntarily submitted to 
be re-imprisoned in another place selected for the purpose. 
This building had been erected at the expense of two thousand 
nine hundred and forty-four dollars, under the superintendence 
of John Vanderbilt, Johannes E. Lott, and Charles Doughty, 
Esquires. 

The following list contains the names of the judges of this 
county anterior to the American revolution : 



Cornelius Sebting, 
Cornelius Vanbrunt, 
Peter Stryker, 
Daniel Polhemus, 
Peter Cortileau, 
Samuel Garretsoa, 
Ryck Suydam, 
Christopher Cod wise, 
Johannes Lott, 
Abraham Lott, 
Isaac Sebring, 
Samuel Garretson, 
Barnabas Ryder, 
Charles De Bevoice, 



1715 to 1718. 
1718 to 1720. 
17-20 to 1723. 
1722 to 1724. 
1724 to 1729. 
1729 to 1732. 
1732 to 1739. 
1739 to 1742. 
1742 to 1745. 
1745 to 1749. 
1749 to 1752. 



! 



John Lefferts, 
Abraham Schenck, 
Samuel Garretson, 
Cornelius Vanbrunt, 
Samuel Garretson, 
John Lefferts, 
John Lefferts, 
Jeremiah Remsen, 
Peter Nagel, 
Englebest Lott, 
Theodones Polhem 
Jeremiah Vanderbilt, 



1761 to 1766. 



! 



■66 to 1770. 



1770 to 1777. 



1752 to 1761. 



us, > 
lilt, J 



1777 to 1780. 



List of County Clerks bejore the Revolution : 



1671 to 1682, 
1682 to 1684, 
1684 to 1687, 
1687 to 1704, 



John West. 
Peter Smith. 
John Knight. 
Jacobus Vande water. 



17*5 to 1783, John Rapelje. 



1704 to 1715, Henry Filkin. 
1715 to 1726, John M. Sperling. 
1726 to 1750, J Adrian Hegeman. 
1750 to 1775, Simon Boerum. 



172 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



Names of first Judges, 
when appointed. 
1808, William Furnian. 
18-23, Leffert Lefferts. 
1827, Peter W. Radcliff. 
1830, John Dikeman. 
1833, Nathan B. Morse. 
1838, John A Lott. 



Clerks shue the Revolution. District Altornies. 

ii-hen appointed. when appointed. 

1784, Jacob Sharp. 1SI9, James B Clarke. 

1800, Leffert Lefferts. ISSO, Nathan B. Morse. 

181(5, Abraham Vandeveer. IS33, William Rockwell, 
1821, Joseph Dean. 
182-2, Abraham Vandeveer. 
1837, Charles E. Bulkeley. 

The following are the names of those who represenied 
this county in the colonial assembly, between the respective 
periods mentioned from 1691 to 1775 inclusive : 



Nicholas Still well, from 1691 to 1G93. 

John Poland, 1691 to 1693. 

Coert Stuyvesant, 

Johannis Van Ecklen, 

Henry ffilkin, 

Cornelius Sebring, 

Myndert Coerten, 

Gerardus Beekman, 

Cornelius Sebring, 



1693 to 1694. 

1693 to 1698. 

1694 to 1695. 

1695 to 1698. 
1698 to 1699. 

1698 to 1699. 

1699 to 1726. 



Cornelius Van Brunt, from 1699 to 1716. 

Samuel Garretson, 1716 to 1737. 

Richard Stillwell, 1726 to 1727. 

Johannis Lott, 1727 to 1761. 

Abraham Lott, 1 737 to 1 750. 

Dominicus Vandeveer, 1750 to 1759. 

Abraham Schenck, 1759 to 1767. 

Simon Boerum, 1761 to 1775. 

Jehn Rapelje, 1767 to 1775. 
Cornelius Van Ruyven, member of the council. 

The deputies who met in convention at New- York, April 10 
1775, to choose delegates to the continental congress, were Si- 
mon Boerum, Richard Stillwell, Theodorus Polhemus, De- 
nyse Denyse, and John Vanderbilt. The delegates selected by 
the convention were Johannis Lott, Henry Williams, J. Rem- 
sen, Richard Stillwell, Theodorus Polhemus, John Lefferts, 
Nicholas Cowenhoven, and John Vanderbilt. These delegates 
convened at New- York on the 22d of May, 1775, and c^onti- 
nued to meet at different places from time to time till the adoption 
of the constitution of the state in April, 1777. 

The members of the provincial congress from this county 
were Henry Williams, Jeremiah Remsen, Theodorus Polhemus, 
and John Lefferts ; but it does not appear that, after the first 
meeting of Congress, any one of them attended subsequent to 
the 30th of June, 1776. The delegates from this county to the 
convention which met at Poughkeepsie on the 27th of June 
1778, to adopt the constitution of the United States, were Peter 
Lefferts and Peter Vandervoort. 

The poptdation of this county at different periods has been 
as follows : In 1731, 2150 ; in 1756, 2707 ; in 1771, 3623; 



KINGS COUNTY. 



173 



in 1786, 3986 ; in 1790, 4495 ; in 1801), 5740 ; in 1810, 8303 ; 
in 1820, 11187; in 1825, 14679; in 1830, 2(535; in 1835, 
32057, The last capital execution in this county was of a man 
by the name of Wessels, who was hanged in 1786 for the crime 
of forgery. 

John Lefferts, Esq., of Flatbush, now deceased, was the 
delegate from this county to the convention of 1821, for amend- 
ing the constitution of tliis state. 

The following list contains the names of those who have 
represented this county in the assembly since the revolution : 



1777 to 1783. William Boerum, Henry 

Williams. 
1784. Johannes E. Lott, Rutger Van 

Brunt. 
1785 & 178G. John Vanderbilt, Charles 

Doughty. 
1787 &, 1788. Cornelius Wyckoff, 

Charles Don;5hty. 
1789 to 1791. Peter Vandervoort, 

Aquilla Giles. 

1792. Charles Doughty. 

1793. Aquilla Giles. 

1794 to 1790. Peter Vandervoort. 
1800 & 1801. Jacob Sharpe, jun. 
1802. John C. Vandeveer. 
1803 to 1H08. John Hicks. 
1809 & 1810. Jeremiah Johnson. 
1811 to 1813. John C. Vandeveer. 
1814. Jeremiah Lott, 



1815. Tunis Schenck. 

1816 and 1817. Richard Fish. 

1818. Cornelius Van Cleef. 

1819 &, 1820. Tunis Schenck. 

1821 & 1822. Jeremiah Lutt. 

1823. William Conselyea, jun. 

1824 to 182G. William Furman. 

1827 & 1728. Clarence D. Sacket. 

1829. John Wyckoff. 

1830 to 1833. Coe S. Downing. 

1834 & 1835. Philip Brasher. 

1836. John Dik man. 

1837. Richard V. W. Thorne, 

Joseph Conselyea. 

1838. Benjamin D. Silliman, Cor- 

nelius Bergen. 

1839. Jeremiah Lott, Cornelius 

Bergen. 



The surrogates of this county since the establishment of the 
office, have been as follows : 



From 1787 to 1793, Johannes E. Lott. 
1793 to 1799, Jacobus L. Lefferts. 
1799 to 1814, William Livington. 



1814 to 1833, Jeremiah Lott. 

And from 1833 to the present 
time, Richard Cornell. 



" At a court of general sessions, held at Gravesend Dec. 1, 
1669: 



" John ffirman, plf. 

vs. 
Abm. fFrost, deft. 



The plaintiff declared in an action 
► of defamation, how that the defen- 
, dant reported him to be a perjured 
person and common Iyer ; which was sufficiently proved, and 
also confessed by the defendant. The jury brought in the ver 
diet for the plaintiff, with five pounds damages, and costs." 



174 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

" This court havinsf taken into consideration the miscar- 
riages of Samuel Scudder andTliomas Case, Quah-ers,hy disturb- 
ing and seducing the people and inhabitants of this government, 
contrary to the peace of our sovereign lord the king, doe there- 
fore order that they forthwith give security to the vahie of forty 
shilUngs sterling, before Mr. Justice Betts, for their good beha- 
vior and appearance at the sessions." 

" Upon the complaint of tlie constable of Flatbush that there 
are several persons in the town who doe refuse to pay their 
minister, — The court doe order that such persons who shall 
refuse to pay their minister, it shall be taken from them by dis- 
tress." 

■ " October 11, 1693. At a meeting of the justices of King's 
County, at the county hall. Present, Roelefi' Martense, Nicho- 
las Stillwell, Joseph Hegeman, and Henry fiilkin, Esqs., jus- 
tices ; John Bibout of Broockland, in the county aforesaid, we 
aver being committed by the said justices to the common jail of 
King's County, for divers scandalous and abusive words spoken 
by the said John against their majesties of the peace for the 
county aforesaid, to the contempt of their Majesty's authority 
and breach of the peace ; the said John having now humbly 
submitted himself, and craves pardon and mercy of the said 
justices for his misdemeanor, is discharged, paying the offi- 
cers' fees, and being on his good behavior till next court of 
sessions, in November next ensuing the date hereof." 

During the same year in the town of Bushwyck, a man nam- 
ed Urian Hagell was imprisoned for having said, on a train- 
ing day, (speaking jestingly of the soldiers,) " Let us knock them 
down ; we are three to their one." The justices called these 
mutinous, factious^ and seditious iDoi'ds, and threatened to im- 
prison the otiender. 

May 8, 1694, two women of the town of Bushwick were in^ 
dieted at the sessions in this county, for having beat and pull- 
ed the hair of Captain Peter Praa while at the head of his 
company of soldiers on parade. One of them was fined £3, 
and the costs £1 19s. 9d ; and the other 40s. and the costs 
£1 I9s. 9d. During the same year Volkert Brier, constable of 
Brooklyn, was fined £5, and the costs, amounting to £1, by the 



king's county. its 

court of sessions, for tearing and burning an execution di- 
rected to him as constable ; on account of which he made the 
following application to the governor for relief: 

The Petition of Volkerl Brier. 

"To HIS Excellency. The humble peticon ofVolkert 
Brier, inhabitant of the towne of Broockland, on the Island of 
Nassau. 

" May it please your Excellency, your peticoner being fined 
five pounds last court of sessions, in King's County, for tear- 
in<T an execucon directed to him as constable. Your peticoner 
being ignorant of the crime, and not thinking it was of force 
when he was out of his office, or that he should have made 
returne of it as the lawc directs, he being an illiterate man could 
not read said execucon nor understand any thing of lawe : 
humbly prays yr Excellency yt you would be pleased to remit 
said fine of five pounds, yr peticoner being a poor man, and not 
capaciated to pay said fine without great damage to himself and 
family. And for yr Excellency yr peticoner will ever pray, &.c. 

"VoLKERT Brier." 

November 12, 1695, the court ordered that the constables of 
the towns shall, on Sunday or Sabbath day, ^take law for the 
apprehending of all Sabbath-breakers, and search all houses, 
taverns, and other suspected places, for all profaners and 
breakers of the Sabbath day, and bring them before a justice of 
the peace to be dealt with according to law ; and for any ne- 
gleet of the constable, he should pay a fine of six shillings. 
The court also made an order requiring each of the towns to 
cause to be immediately erected a good pair of stocks and a 
good powncZ, by which, it seems, they were resolved to keep 
both man and beast in proper subjection. 

By an act of assembly, July 27th, 1721, it was declared that 
the road, or King\'^ Highway, from the ferry upwards to the 
town of Breuckland, as far as the swinging-gate of John Rapclje 
iust above the house and land of James Harding, should be and 
remain the common road, or Kvng^s Highway, from the said 
ferry, to the said swinging-gate tor ever. -j 



1~(^ HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

It appears, that in 1654 this county was so infested by rob- 
bers, who committed violence and outrafje upon the property 
of the inhabitants, that the magistrates of the several towns 
united in forming a company to act against robbers and pi- 
rates, and created for this special purpose an officer in each 
town, called a Sergeant, with a suitable guard. 

During the administration of the Dutch government, the 
poor, in the several towns under their jurisdiction, were main- 
tained by fines imposed for the commission of different offences, 
and by voluntary contributions taken up in the churches, as 
was the custom upon the Sabbath and on other public occasions. 
^'•At a Court of Sessions, held at Gravesend, June 21, 1671. 
— Present, Mathias NichoUs, president; Mr. Cornelius Van 
Ruyven, Captain Jolin Manning, Mr. Thomas Lovelace, Mr. 
James Hubbard and Thomas Betts, justices ; Robert Coe, high 
sheriffe ; constables sworn, John Ramsden for Newtown ; 
John Hanch, fflatbush ; Wessell Garrett, Bushwicke ; Simon 
Johnson, fflatlands ; John Thomas, New Utrecht ; Ralph Car- 
dell, Gravesend ; and Lambert Johnson, Brookeland. The fol- 
lowing resolution was adopted : — 

" We, his majestie's justices, being assembled at a court of 
sessions at Gravesend, for the West-riding of Yorkshire upon 
Long Island, being assisted by some of the governor's council, 
and likewise of our brethren of the North-riding, and having 
had the perusal of three papers presented at the court of sessions 
at Jamaica the week before, from and in the names of the towns 
of Flushing, Hempstead, and Jamaica, upon mature delibera- 
con and consideracon had thereupon ; we have unanimously 
concluded and adjudged that the said papers are in themselves 
scandalous, illegal, and seditious ; tending only to disaffect all 
the peaceable and well-meaning subjects of his majesty's terri- 
tories and dominions ; and do declare this to bee our sentiments 
and opinions, the which we humbly present to his Honor the 
Governor and his councell to proceed upon itt as they shall con- 
ceive will tend to the suppression of such mischiefs as may 
arise by the impression of fFalse suggestions and jealousies in 
the minds of peaceable and well-meaning subjects from their 
duty and obedience to the laws." 



king's county. 177 

" Thomas Lambertson and his wife, Plaintiffs^ 

vs. 
John Low, Defendant. 
" Action for deffemacon. Cause left to ttie court. 

" The defendant confest that he was drunke^ and was very 
sorry for defaming of the plaintiffs wife, and begg'dhis pardon 
in open court. The court order that he pay the costs of the 
plaintiffs attendance, and keep a civil tongue in his head," 

There is reason for supposing that tobacco was an article 
much cultivated in some portions of this county in the early 
part of the settlement, as well for exportation as for domestic 
consumption among the Dutch, with whom tobacco was con- 
sidered almost a necessary of life. To guard against frauds in 
the manufacture of this commodity, and to preserve its reputa- 
tion, the following act was passed in 1638, commonly called the 
Tobacco Statute. 

" Whereas the Hon. Director and council of New Nether- 
lands have deemed it advisable to make some regulations about 
the cultivation of the Tobacco, as many Planters' chief aim and 
employ is, to obtain a large crop, and thereby the high name 
which our Tobacco has obtained in foreign countries is injured 
— to obviate which, every Planter is seriously warned to pay 
due attention that the Tobacco appear in good condition ; that 
the superfluous leaves are carefully cut away ; and further, that 
the Tobacco which is spunged is not more wetted than is required. 
That what is intended to be exported from New Netherlands 
be first carried to the public store-house, to be there examined, 
weighed and marked, and to be paid there the duties which 
are due to the company ; to wit, five of every hundred pounds, 
in conformity to the grant of the company. And for all which 
we appointed two inspectors under oath. Those who transgress 
this ordinance shall lose all his Tobacco by confiscation, and 
besides arbitrarily corrected and punished. And further, that 
no contracts, engagements, bargains or sales, shall be deem- 
ed valid, except those written by the secretary, while all are 
warned to conform themselves to this statute at their peril. 
Done at Fort Amsterdam, August 19, 1638." 

23 



178 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

The following persons were justices of the peace for this 
county in 1763 : 

Abraham Schenck. Aury Remsen. Jeremiah Vanderbilt. 

Sainuul Garritson, Jun. Englebert Loit. Peter Cortelyou. 

John Lefferts. Johannis Bergen. Albert Van Brunt. 

Jacobus Debevois, Jun. Phillip Nagel, Jun. Cornelius Wyckofl'. 

Thomas Polhemus. Bareut Johnson. Christopher Codwise. 

Garret Cowenhoven. JohnSuydam. Leffert Lefferts. 

Jeremiah Remsen. Derric Remsen. Abraham Voorhis. 

Agreement made with Johannis Van Eckkellen, schoolmas- 
ter of Flatbush, in 1682. 

''Art. 1. — The school shall begin at 8 o'clock, and go out at 
11 ; shall begin again at 1 o'clock and end at 4. The bell shall 
be rung before the school begins. 

Art. 2. — When school opens, one of the children shall read 
the morning prayer as it stands in the catechism, and close 
with the prayer before dinner ; and in the afternoon, the same. 
The evening school shall begin with the Lord's prayer, and 
close by singing a psalm. 

Art. 3. — He shall instruct the children in the common pray- 
ers ; and the questions and answers of the catechism on Wed- 
nesdays and Saturdays, to enable them to say them better on 
Sunday in the church. 

Art. 4. — He shall be bound to keep his school nine months 
in succession, from September to June, one year with another ; 
and shall always be present himself 

Art. 5. — He shall be chorister of the church; ring the bell 
three times before service, and read a chapter of the Bible in the 
church between the second and third ringing of the bell ; after 
the third ringing, he shall read the ten commandments and 
the twelve articles of faith, and then set the psalm. In the 
afternoon, after the third ringing of the bell, he shall read a 
short chapter or one of the psalms of David, as the congregation 
are assembling ; afterwards he shall again set the psalm. 

Art. 6. — When the minister shall preach at Brooklyn or 
Utrecht, he shall be bound to read twice before the congrega- 
tion from the book used for the purpose. He shall hear the 
children recite the questions and answers of the catechism on 
Sunday, and instruct them. 



KINGS COUNTY. 



179 



Art. 7. — He shall provide a basin of water for the baptism, 
for which he shall receive twelve styvers in Wampom for every 
baptism, from the parents or sponsors. He shall furnish bread 
and wine for the communion, at the charge of the church. He 
shall also serve as messenofer for the consistories. 

Art. 8. — He shall give the funeral invitations, and toll the 
bell ; and for which he shall receive, for persons of fifteen 
years of age and upwards twelve guilders ; and for persons 
under fifteen, eight guilders ; and if he shall cross the river to 
New- York, he shall have four guilders more. 

The school money. 

1st. He shall receive, for a speller or reader, three guilders 
a quarter ; and for a writer, 4 guilders, for the day-school. In 
the evening, four guilders for a speller or reader, and five 
guilders for a writer, per quarter. 

2d. The residue of his salary shall be four hundred guilders 
in wheat (of Wampom value,) deliverable at Brooklyn Ferry, 
with the dwelling, pasturage and meadow, appertaining to the 
school. 

Done and agreed on in consistory, in the presence of the con- 
stable and trustees, this 8th day of October, 1682. Signed by 
Casper Van Zuren and the consistory." 

'•' I agree to the above articles, and promise to observe them. 

" Johannis Van Eckkellen." 

EXTRACT FROM THE STATE CENSUS OF 1835, FOR THE 

COUNTY OF KINGS. 













■6 




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3i 


c 
V m 


a) 














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3.S 
of- 


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c 


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Towns. 






s 




g 


« 




O J3 


O 






o 
o 


6 














a. 














£ 




n 


C9 










00 


CO 


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C 
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CO 


CO 




n 


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c 
o 
m 


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a 


o 


a. 


a 




s 


Eh 


H 


Bl, 


< 


o 


X 


>. '^ 


< 


u 


i 


Pm 


326 


237 


ID 

80 


33 
1.57 


Gravesend. 


371 


324 


695 




2.587 


2 




255 


31 


134 


62 


105 


New Utrecht. 


733 


5.54 


1287 




4009 






1.35 


.59 


197 


99 


165 


394 


3.38 


12 


415 


Flatlands. 


363 


321 


684 




2881 


1 




158 


20 


114 


70 


116 


381 


239 


81 


406 


Flatbiish. 


847 


GOO 


1537 


231 


5777 


3 






34 


211 


66 


260 


662 


490 


81 


894 


Busliwick. 


lS8i< 


143C 


3325 


3J i'-. 


2655 


2 






.394 


575 


449 


176 


1179 


396 


8 


866 


Bro(,klyn— 1st. Ward. 


680 


843 


152.3 


•S " 

m O 










141 


iKi7 


91 


105 


19 


91 




3 


2d. 


3419 


22;>5 


4674 


2 




8000 




615 


811 


381 


147 


76 


282 


26 


205 


3d. 


1204 


1.560 


2764 


— JS 


7 








8(> 


401 


169 


116 


34 


98 


2 


35 


4lh. 


2731 


2993 


5724 


m C 


3 








582 


919 


413 


360 


33 


192 




185 


5th. 


2,391 


2119 


4510 


.a a. 










427 


690 


326 


46 


46 


106 




129 


6th. 


1120 


1019 


2139 


S s> 


463 






30 


265 


283 


109 


.53 


444 


279 




213 


7th. 


1078 


964 


2042 


'■^ 5 


1260 








400 


344 


212 


136 


918 


252 




485 


8ih. 


286 


201 


487 


- o 


1.545 






40 


82 


102 


53 


51 


346 


163 




313 


9th. 


438 


228 


666 


-O 


1343 


"s 




74 


295 


99 


31 


62 


302 


192 


1 


310 


Total. 


16550 


15507 


32057 


231 


22532 


8000 


702 


.3431 


5007 


2532 


1897 


5160 


3355 


291 


4616 



ISO 



HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 



EXTRACT FROM THE RETURNS OF COMMON SCHOOLS 
TO THE LEGISLATURE, JAN. 5, 1838. 



MADE 







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a 


V 


in 


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u 






W) 


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Ih 


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-1 


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is 


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CO OJ 

CM 




-a 






-Q 


73 3 


(U 


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U C3 


c c 


■- -^ 






o •^ 


if K 


C 


O ~ 


3> ca 


c.^ 


Towns. 


§ 






2 c 


3 
o 

2 


J5 

£ 

3 


2 


3-0 

o 
H 




en 


5 

7 


1-2 


d^ " 


< 


25 


3 

564.') 


< 


Bniokl)Mi. 


/ 


S-18!)3,S(i 


$-2im,(y2 


15S0 


S-20 13 56 


Husliwick. 


3 


1 


1-J 


150,-25 




148 


61-2 


150,-25 


Flaibush. 


o 


o 


1-2 


56,51 


300,0(1 


60 


341 


114,87 


Flatlamls. 


.J 


.1 


1-J 


t;-3,io 


tir)8,oo 


83 


164 


62,10 


Liravesend. 


.■) 


.1 


1-J 


58,8S 


341,00 


76 


191 


58,88 


New Utrecht. 


3 


3 
17 


1) 


l?20,8O 


687,51 


145 
201)-2 


■281 
7>243 


1'2(;,80 


Total. 


19 


11 


S-2348,43 


S 4062,53 


$2586,46 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 

This is the most easterly town on Lone^ Island. It is situa- 
ted upon the southern branch thereof, and includes the penin- 
sula of Montauk and Gardiner's Island. It is bounded on 
the east by the confluence of the Ocean with the Sound ; on the 
south by the Atlantic Ocean ; on the west by Southampton ; 
and on the north by Gardiner's Ray and the Sound. The 
south shore is in some places a low sandy beach, in others form- 
ed into hills of every variety of shape ; but upon Montauk 
there are high and rugged cliffs, against whose base the waves 
dash with almost continued violence — any thing like a perfect 
calm here, being a rare occurrence. The northern shore is 
much less exposed to the action of the sea, for the most part 
level, and is indented with numerous coves and small ponds or 
bays, which abound with fish, and are, in some instances, na- 
vigable for vessels of small burthen. The greatest length of 
this town, from the west line to Montauk Point, is about twen- 
ty-five miles ; and centrally distant from the city of New-York 
one hundred and ten miles ; from Albany two hundred and six- 
ty ; and from the court-house at Riverhead, thirty miles. The 
town was settled in 1G49 by about thirty families from Lynn 
and.the adjacent towns of Blassachusetts, where they had tar- 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 181 

ried awhile after their arrival from England. Previous to the 
settlement, arrangements were made with the governors of 
New Haven and Connecticut to obtain a title to the lands from 
the native Indian proprietors. This undertaking was soon ac- 
complished by these gentlemen, and the conveyance which they 
procured from the natives is as follows : — '■'• April the 29th, 1 G48. 
This present wrighling testyfieth an agreement betwixt the 
Worshipful Theophilus Eaton, Esq., Governor of the Colony of 
New Haven, the Worshipful Edward Hopkins, Esq., Governor 
of the Colony of Connecticut, their associates on the one parte ; 
Foygratasuck, Sachem of Manhassett ; Wayandanch, Sachem 
of M;)untacutt ; Momometou, Sachem of Chorchake ; andNowe- 
donah, Sachem of Shinecock, and their associates, the other par- 
ty. The said Sachems having sould unto the aforesaid Th : 
Eaton and Ed : Hopkins, with their associates, all the land 
lying from the bounds of the inhabitants oi Southampton 
unto the east side of Mountacutt high-land, with the whole 
breadth from sea to sea, not intrenching uppon any in length or 
breadth which the inhabitants of Southampton have and doe 
possess, as they by lawful right shall make appeare ; for a con- 
sideration of twenty coates^ twenty-four hatchets, twenty-four 
knioes, twenty looking--glasses, one hundred muxes already re- 
ceived by us the forenamed sachems, for ourselves and asso- 
ciates ; and in consideration thereof we give upp unto the said 
purchasers all our right and interest in said land, to them and 
their heirs, whether our or other nation whatsoever, that doe 
or may hereafter challenge interest therein. Alsoe we, the sayd 
Sachems, have covenanted to have libertie fTor ourselves ioffish 
in any or all the cricks and ponds, and hunting upp and downe 
in the woods, without molestation ; they giving to the English 
inhabytants noejust offence, or injurie to their goods and chattels. 
Alsoe, they are to have the Jfynnes and tayles of all such whales 
as shall be cast upp, to their proper riglit, and desire they may be 
friendly dealt with in the other parte. Alsoe they reserve lib- 
ertie to ffish in convenient places ffor shells to make wampum. 
Alsoe Indyns hunting any dears they should chase into the 
water, and the English should kill them, the English shall 
have the body and the Sachems the skin. And in testymony 



182 



HISTOKY OF LONG ISLAND. 



of our well performance hereof, we have set our hands the day 

and yeare above written. (Signed.) 

" In presence of Richard Wood- ^ " Poygratasuck, x 
hull, Thomas Stanton, Rob- V Wayandanch, x 

ert Bond, and Job Sayre. ) Momometou, x 

NOWKDONAH. X " 

The precaution shown by the purchasers in procuring a con- 
veyance from the sachems of the four eastern tribes was wisely 
intended to protect the inhabitants from any pretence or claim 
on the part of the Indians, and prevent all controversies with 
their descendants, whicli might disturb the peace or endanger 
the future safety of the plantation. The title which had thus 
been acquired by Eaton and Hopkins was, in the succeeding 
year, duly transferred to the settlers, whose names, and those 
who were associated with them soon after, are as follows : 

John Hand, sen., John Miller, S>\muel Beltnapp, 

John Stretto'i, sen., Luke Lilies, Charles Barnes, 

Thomas Tallniage, jun., Benjamin Price, Samuel Parsons, 

Robert Bond, Thomas Osborn, sen., Joshua Garlick, 

John Mulford, William Hedges, ffulke David, 

Thomas Tomsou, Ralph Dayton, Nathaniel Bishop, 

Daniel How, Thomas Chaifield, William Barnes, 

Joshua Barnes, Thomas Osborn, jun., Lyon Gardiner, 

Robert Rose, William Edwards, John Osborne, 

Thomas James, William ffiihian, Jeremiah Neale, 

William Mulford, Richard Brookes, Stephen Hand, 

Richard Stretton, William Symonds, Thomas Baker. 

The town was at first called Maidstone, probably by reason 
that Lyon Gardiner and some others of the first planters came 
from a town of that name in the county of Kent, England. 
But it was shortly after ch anged by general consent to that of 
Easthampton, which appellation it has ever since retained, 
and which seemed appropriate from its relative situation in re- 
gard to the town of Southampton, which had been settled about 
ten years before. The division line of these two towns was a 
matter of considerable uncertainty, and occasioned a disagree- 
able controversy between their inhabitants, which lasted till the 
year IG64, when all disputes were terminated by commission- 
ers appointed for that purpose by the governor, and by whom 
the boundaries were permanently established as they now are. 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 183 

A gift of the remaining lands of Montauk was made by the 
natives, some years after the settlement, as an acknowledgment 
and consideration of the protection which had been extend- 
ed to the individuals of that tribe, threatened, as they were, with 
invasion and extermination by their enemies, and which oblig- 
ed them to take refuge among their white neighbors of East- 
hampton. The following is the most material part of the con- 
veyance given on the occasion, and setting forth, likewise, the 
reasons which had induced them to make it : 

"Whereas, of late years there has been sore distresses and 
calamities befallen us, by reason of the cruel opposition and 
violence of our deadly enemy, Ninnecraft, Sachem of Narra- 
gansett, whose cruelty hath proceeded so far as to take away 
the lives of many of our dear friends and relations, so that we 
were forced to fly from Montaukett for shelter to our beloved 
friends and neighbors of Easthampton, whom we found to be 
friendly in our distresses, and whom we must ever own and 
acknowledge as instruments, under God, for the preservation of 
our lives, and the lives of our wives and children to this day, 
and of the land of Montaukett from the hands of our enemies ; 
and since our comeing among them, the relieving us in our ex- 
tremities from time to time. And now, at last, we find the said 
inhabitants of Easthampton our deliverers, cordial and faithful 
in our former covenants, leaving us freely at liberty to go or 
stay, being ready to perform all the conditions of our aforesaid 
agreement. After serious debate and deliberation, in considera- 
tion of the love which we have and do bear unto these our 
trusty and beloved friends of Easthampton, upon our own free 
and voluntary motion, have given, granted unto them and their 
heirs, all the lands," (fcc. This instrument then proceeds to 
describe and convey all the remaining lands of Montauk east- 
ward of the original or first purchase, reserving to themselves 
the right and privilege of living there again, and of using such 
portions of the land as their necessities might require — which 
right and privilege they and their posterity have ever since 
continued to enjoy. In the preamble of this conveyance, allu- 
sion is made to the cruel and perfidious massacre of the Sachem 
and many of his best warriors, a few years before, at Block Is- 



184 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



land ; for, being there on some important occasion, they were 
surprised in the night by a party of the Narragansett Indians ; 
but were promised their lives should be spared upon laying 
down their arms, which they had no sooner done, than they 
were set upon and murdered in the most barbarous manner, 
only one of the whole number escaping to relate the horrid 
deed. The Sachem himself was reserved for further cruelty, 
and being conveyed to the Narragansett country, was there tor- 
tured to death by being compelled to walk naked over flat rocks, 
heated to the utmost by fires built upon them. Ninigret, the 
chief of that powerful tribe, (called also by the different names 
oi Janemo, A'uiicraft, and Nenekunet,) had a violent hatred of 
the Montiiuks, for not only refusing on a former occasion 
to unite with him in destroying the white people, but for 
having discovered the plot to the English, by which his de- 
sign was frustrated, and the inhabitants saved from des- 
truction. The words of Captain Gardiner are, " Waiandance, 
the Long Island Sachem, told me, that as all the plots of tlie 
Narragansetts had been discovered, they now concluded to let 
the English alone until they had destroyed Uncas, the Mohe- 
gan chief, and himself ; then, with the assistance of the Mohawks 
and Indians beyond the Dutch, they would easily destroy us, 
every man and mot/icr^s 5on." Indeed, it seems suspicions 
were generally entertained that the Dutch not only countenanc- 
ed the Indians in their hostility to the English, but had also 
secretly supplied them with arms. Several Indian Sagamores 
residing near the Dutch, reported that the Dutch governor had 
urged them to cut off the English, and it was well known that 
Ninigret had spent the winter of 1652 and 3 among the Dutch. 
In consequence, a special meeting of the commissioners was 
convened at Boston, in April, 1653, but several Indian sachems, 
who were examined denied any agreement with the Dutch to 
make war upon the English. Ninigret declared that he went 
to New Amsterdam to be cured of some disease by a French 
physician ; that he carried thirty fathoms of wampum with 
him, of which he gave the doctor ten and to the governor fif- 
teen, in exchange for which the governor gave him some coa^* 
icith sleeves, but not one gun. 



TOWN OF EASTHAMTTON. 



18l 



On the first day of August, 1G60, and after the death of the 
Sachem AVyandanch, his widow, called the i^qua-Sacham^ and 
ber son, united in a deed of confirmation to the original pur- 
chasers for the lands of Montauk ; and described by them as 
extending from sea to sea^ and from the easternmost j)arts 
thereof to the bounds of East ha?}ip ton, (or the consideration 
of one hundred pounds, to be paid in ten equal annual pay- 
ments, in Indian corn or good wamputn at six to a penny. 
1 he names inserted in the original conveyance are as fol- 
lows : 



Thomas Baker, 
Robert Bond, 
Thomas James, 
Lion GartliniT, 
John Mulford, 
John Hand, 
Benjamin Prior, 
Thomas Tomson, 
Thomas Tallmage, jun. 
Thomas Chatficld, 
John StreltoH, 



Thomas Osborn, sen. 
William He^Jges, 
Thomas Osljorn, jun. 
Richard Sirelton, 
Roger Smith, 
Jeremiah Meacham, 
John Osljorn, 
William Simons, 
William ifithian, 
Richard Brookes, 
Joshua Garlick, 



William Barnes, 
Samnel Parsons, 
JS'athan Burdsill, 
Robert Daitoii, 
William EJdwurda, 
George Miller, 
Steven Osborn, 
John Miller, 
Steven Hand, 
William Mulford, 
Nathaniel Bishop. 



A patent, confirming and assuring to the inhabitants of the 
town the lands formerly purchased from the native Indians, 
was obtained from Governor Nicolls on the 13th of March, 
1666. The names of the patentees are, John Mulford, justice 
of the peace, Mr. Thomas Baker, Thomas Chatficld, Jeremiah 
Conklin, Thomas Hedges, Thomas Osborn, sen., and John 
Osborn ; for themselves and their associates the freeholders 
and inhabitants of the town of Eastharnpton ; together with all 
havens, harbors, creeks, quarries, woodlands, meadows, (fee. ; 
and, what is somewhat peculiar, this patent contains no reser- 
vation of any quit-rent, as was usual in most charters granted 
by the colonial governors. It may gratify curiosity to be in- 
formed, that the names of thirteen of the original settlers of this 
town are extinct, while there are descendants of the remainder 
in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth degrees, residing here ; 
and in many cases the posterity of the first inhabitants are in 
possession of the identical lands of their ancestors. At the 
beginning of the settlement, a house lot, consisting of ten or 

24 



186 PUSTORY OP LONG ISLANJJ. 

twelve acres of ground, was laid out to each proprietor at the 
south end of liie town, and upon each side of tlie town pond 
(so called), for the greater convenience of Avater for themselves 
and their cattle. The woodlands and meadows were next 
laid out, and allotted to individuals by town vote. All public 
measures were adopted in town meetings, called in the records 
the general court ; at which it was made the duty of every male 
inhabitant to attend. And to this court were brought all ap- 
peals from magistrates and other public officers. But these 
rneetinofs were liable to disorder and tumult from the number of 
those who attended, and the want of a more efficient judicial 
system was become too obvious to be longer dispensed with ; 
in which emergency the people very naturally looked to their 
brethren of New Ensfland for assistance. Accordingly, on the 
7th of March, 1658, it was ordered and determined by the 
general court, upon due consideration, that Ralph Dayton, one 
of their most discreet men, should go to Connecticut to procure 
the evidence for their lands, and a code of laws. Whether the 
commissioner brought over, among other things, a copy of the 
famous "Blue Laws," we are not informed. The probability 
is, that most of the provisions of that singular code had by this 
time become in a good measure obsolete even with the Yankees 
themselves. The town of Southampton had erected one or 
two grist-mills in the early part of the settlement, and the 
people of this town were under the necessity of carrying their 
grain there to be ground. The first mill is said to have been 
worked by oxen ; and in the absence of horses, bulls were 
used for transporting the grain. This town continued an in- 
dependent plantation or community until the year 1657, when 
by mutual consent, and for more perfect protection, they put 
themselves under the jurisdiction of the colony of Connecticut. 
The magistrates having frequently, in difficult cases, found it 
necessary to consult with their neighbors of Southampton and 
Southold, and sometimes also •' the gentlemen at Hartford.''' 

On the 9th of December, 1658, it was voted in the general 
court, and decided, " that the capital laws, and the laws and or- 
ders that are noted in the bodie of laws that came from Con- 
necticut, shall stand in force among us." In the municipal ar- 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 187 

rangement of public officers, they consisted of three magistrates, 
a recorder or clerk, and constable ; the latter was considered 
an important office, beinj^ a conservator of the peace and a 
moderator of the general court, and was, as matter of course, 
always a person of mature years and of established character 
and respectability. The duty of the recorder was not only to 
enter the proceedings of the town meetings, but the decisions 
of the magistrates, and even the depositions and testimony of 
witnesses upon trials. Trials were either with or without ju- 
ries, at the discretion of the magistrate. From the year 1650 
to 1664, about sixty cases tried before the courts are found re- 
corded in the town books, mostly for small debts and actions 
of slander; which latter action seems to have been extremely 
frequent in most of the towns. The recovery in such cases was 
limited to five pounds, while in other actions the jurisdiction 
was unlimited. An extraordinary instance occurred in the case 
of Lion Gardiner of the Isle of Wight, who was prosecuted in 
this court for a claim of five hundred pounds sterling. The 
case was this : A Southampton man had hired a Dutchman to 
bring him a freight from the Manhadoes to Easthampton. 
The vessel was taken by the English, and brought to that is- 
land, when Captain Gardiner retook her in behalf of the Dutch 
owners. Being prosecuted by the original captors to recover 
from him the value of the vessel and cargo, as well as damages 
which had been sustained, and the subject matter being not 
only of great importance, but involving principles of law be- 
yond the learning of the town magistrates, it was very properly 
determined to refer the case to the court at Hartford. The 
plaintiff having 'probably little confidence in the justice of his 
cause, failed to appear, and the matter was dropped. The ge- 
neral town court possessed of course unlimited authority in all 
respects, and every matter of a public nature, or concerning the 
interest and safety of individuals, was heard and determined in 
this primary assembly of the people. It was usual, if not re- 
quired, that all important contracts and agreements, and particu- 
larly those entered into between the English and Indians re- 
lating to the killing of whales, should be entered upon the town 
books, and signed by the parties in presence of the clerk 



1S8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

and certified by liini. Boat whaling was so generally practised, 
and was considered of so much importance by the whole com- 
munity, that every man of sulUcient ability in the town was 
obliged to take his turn in watching for whales from some ele- 
vated position on the beach, and to sound the alarm on one 
being seen near the coast. For the want of other materials, at 
the commencement of the settlement the first houses and other 
buildings were covered with straw ; and for the greater safety 
from fh-es, it was required, under a penalty, that the owner of 
every dwelling should furnish himself with a ladder that 
should reach as high as the ridge ; and a person was likewise 
appointed to see that chimnies were kept well plastered upon 
the inside and swept frequently. Laws were also passed ren- 
dering it highly penal to dispose of any guns, swords, lead or 
powder, to the Indians ; or selling to any Indian more than 
two drams of strong water at any time. These people were 
occasionally troublesome to the settlers, and in 1G53 became so 
dangerous that the inhabitants took measui-es to obtain a large 
supply of ammunition from the fort at Saybrook, and a patrole 
was almost constantly on duty to guard against the conse- 
quences of a sudden attack. The general court passed an or- 
der authorizing the guard to shoot any Indian that should re- 
fuse to surrender when hailed the third time. And it was 
usual, at this perilous crisis, for the people, or some portion of 
them, to carry their arms with them to the church on Sunday. 

The government under Oliver Cromwell having resolved 
on a war against the Dutch sotilements in America, circulars 
were addressed on the subject to the different towns to request 
their assistance. Accordingly the people of this town, on the 
29tli of June, 1654, determined as follows : " Having duly con- 
sidered the letters that came from Connecticut, wherein men 
are required to assist the power of England against the Dutch, 
we do think ourselves called to assist the said power accord- 
ingly." In the year 1655 the inhabitants entered into an 
aoreement or civil combination in the words foUowingf : 

" Forasmuch as it has pleased the Almighty God, by the wise 
dispensation of his providence, so to order and dispose of things, 
that we, the inhabitants of East-Hampton, are now dwelling 



TOWN OP EASTHAMPTON-. 189 

together ; the word of God requires that to maintain the peace 
and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and de- 
cent government establislied, according to God, to order and 
dispose as occasion shall require ; we do therefore sociate and 
conjoin ourselves and successors to be one town or corporation, 
and do for ourselves and successors, and such as shall be ad- 
joined to us at any time hereafter, enter into combination and 
confederation together, to rnamtain and preserve the purity of 
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we now possess; 
as also the discipline of the church, which, according to the 
truth of said gospel, is now practised among us ; as also in our 
civil aflfdirs to be guided and governed by such laws and 
orders as shall be made according to God, and which by the 
vote of the major part shall be in force among us. Further- 
more we do engage ourselves, that in all votes for choosing 
officers or making orders, that it be according to conscience 
and eur best light. And also we do engage ourselves by this 
combination to stand to and maiiitain the authority of the 
several officers of the town in their determinations and actions, 
according to their orders and laws, that either are or shall be 
made, not swerving therefrom. In witness whereof," dec. 

The first settlers of the several towns in Connecticut seem to 
have entered into formal contracts of this nature. The prece- 
ding is said to have been taken from that of Windsor, and it is 
probiibie that the English towns on Long Island, in their orio^in,^ 
adopted compacts of a similar kind. 

" .March 19, 16.57, it is ordered that Thomas Baker and 
John Hand is to go to Connecticut for to bring us under their 
goverment, according unto the terms as Southampton is, and 
also to carry up Good wife Garlick, that she may be delivered 
up unto the authorities there, for hertryal of the cause of Witch- 
craft, which she is suspected for." The town was received 
into the jurisdiction of Connecticut, but the fate of good wife 
Garlick is not known. On the arrival of Governor Nicolls in 
1664, and his assuming jurisdiction over the whole of Long 
Island, and requiring the several towns to submit to his authority, 
this town passed the following resolve: "The inhabitants of 
this town, understanding that we are ofi"from Connecticut, and 



190 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



the magistrates not willing to act further upon that account ; 
that we may not be without law and goverment, it is agreed 
tlie former laws and magistrates shall stand in force till we have 
further order from York." The cautious vigilance and sys- 
tematic prudence of the people of this puritan town may be 
seen from the following extracts from the town records : " May 
10, 1651, it ordered that no man shall sell his accommodation 
to another without consent of the town, and if any purchase 
without consent, he shall not enjoy the same." 

" No man shall sell any liquor, but such as are deputed 
thereto by the town, and no more than half a pint shall be 
drank at a time among four men ; and it is further ordered 
that good man Megg's lot shall not be laid out for James to go 
to work on, and that he shall not stay here." — " February 
12, 1656, it is ordered that whoever shall raise up a false 
witness against any man, to testify that which is wrong, it 
shall be done unto him as he had thought to have done unto 
his neighbor, whatever it be, even unto the taking away of life, 
limb, or member." — "And whosoever shall rise up in anger 
against his neighbor, and strike him, he shall forthwith pay 
ten shillings to the town, and stand to the censure of the court ; 
and if, in smiting, he shall hurt or wound aUfOther, he shall pay 
for the same, and also for the time the person is thereby hin- 
dered." — " And whosoever shall slander another, shall be liable 
ftto pay a fine of five pounds." — "April llth, 1664, it appearing 
that Nathaniel York did strike Obediah the Indian, several 
stripes, he is satisfied from him by half a bushel of corn, and 
his fine is left to the town's determination." — " January lOth^ 
1695, it is resolved that the Rev. Mr. James shall have prefer- 
ence in the grinding of his corn at the mill on the second day 
of every week, and shall be preferred to any other person, un- 
less his grain shall be in the hopper." 

" March 7th, 1650. At a general court it is ordered that any 
man may set guns to kill wolves, provided they be not set 
within half a mile of the town, and also to take up the guns by 
sunrise; and further, that it shall not be lawful to sell any dog 
or bitch, young or old, to any Indian, upon penalty of thirty 
shillings." " June 3d, 1653. It is ordered that one half of the 



TOWN OP EASTHAMPTON. 191 

town shall carry arms to meeting upon the Lord's Day, with 
four sufficient charges of powder and shot." May 8th, 1655. 
It is ordered, that for the prevention of abuse among the Indians, 
by selling them strong waters, no man shall carry any to them 
to sell, nor yet send any, nor employ any to sell for them ; nor 
sell any liquor in said town to any Indian for their present 
drinking, above tioo drams at a time." It seems that the practice 
of boat whaling along-shore was practised here at an early pe- 
riod, and was probably pursued to some extent on the whole 
south shore of the island. Contracts were frequendy entered 
into between the white people and the Indians, to engage in 
whaling, many of which are recorded. The following are co- 
pied from the town books : 

" Easthampton, Aprill 2d, 1668. Know all men by these 
presents, y' wee whose names are signed hereunto, being In- 
dians of Montauket, do engage ourselves in a bond of ten 
pounds sterling for to goe to sea uppon ye account of killing 
of whales, this next ensuing season, beginning at the 1st day 
of November next, ending by ye first of April! ensuing ; and 
that for ye proper account of Jacobus Skallenger and his part- 
ners of Easthampton ; and engage to attend dilligently with all 
opportunitie for ye killing of whales or other fish, for ye sum 
of three shillings a day for every Indian; ye sayd Jacobus 
Skallenger and partners to furnish all necessarie craft and tack- 
ling convenient for ye designe." " Agreement made the 4th 
of January, 1669, between ye whale comp:\nies of East and 
Southampton. If any companie shall finde a dead whale up- 
pon the shore, killed by ye other, a person shall bee immediate- 
ly sent to give notice ; and the person bringing the news to bee 
well rewarded. And if one companie shall finde any whale so 
killed at sea, they shall endeavor to secure them, and have one 
half for their pains, and any irons found in them to bee return^ 
ed to ye owners." 

In 1654, the magistrates of the town ordered the rates to be 
paid in wheat at four shillings and sixpence a bushel, and In- 
dian corn at three shillings and sixpence. The first meeting- 
house was erected in the year 1652, which was twenty-six feet 
square and covered with thatch, as most, if not all, the houses 



192 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

were at that time. Previous to which, meetino;s were held at 
the ordinary kept by Thomas Baker, and for which he was al- 
lowed eighteen pence for each Lord's Day. A second meeting- 
house was built in 1673, and to which the following entry re- 
fers : " Whereas there was an agreement made between the 
town and Joshua Garlick about building a meeting- house, 
know therefore all men by these presents, that he hath finished 
his work according to the town's expectation : — September 10 
1674. Benjamin Conkling, Richard Shaw, John Parsons, 
John Mulford, Thomas Talmage." The present church was 
built in 1717, and is of course at this time more than one hun- 
dred and twenty years old. It had formerly a second or upper 
gallery, which has been taken down, and the interior so far 
modernized as to lose its ancient appearance in a great measure. 
Tiie Rev. Thomas James was the first minister in this town, 
and an early settler in the year 1650. His ancestry is not 
known. It is conjectured, however, that he was a son of the 
Rev. Thomas James, who preached at Charlestown, in Massa- 
chusetts, in 1633, who went to Virginia as a missionary in 
1642, and, as is supposed, afterwards returned to England. 
It is the tradition that he came from England before he had 
finished his studies, and that he completed his education with 
some of the ministers who at that time adorned the churches 
of New England. He was a man of strong natural powers, 
had a good education, understood public business, and was of- 
ten employed by the town to act for them on difficult emergen- 
cies. He was recorder of the town, and much of the first re- 
cords are in his hand- writing. In 1651 the inhabitants agreed 
to give him fifty pounds a-year for his labors in the ministry 
among them. Mr. James seems to have been the first person 
employed to instruct the Indians on the island. In the ac- 
counts of the society for propagating the gospel in New En- 
gland for 1661, there is an allowance of ten pounds to Mr. 
James of Easthampton, for preparing himself for that difficult 
employment ; and in the accounts for the succeeding three 
years, there is an allowance of twenty pounds a-year for each 
of those years to Mr. James, for his salary for instructing 
" the Indians at Long Island." He continued here till his death, 



TOWN OP EASTHAMPTON. 193 

in 1696. The people employed a Mr. Jones to assist him dur- 
ino; the three last years of his life, in consequence of his age 
and infirmities, he having relinquished forty pounds of his 
salary to enable them to do it. Mr. James ordered his body to 
be laid in a position contrary to that of his people, and he was 
buried in that manner. On the 2Uth of November, 169.5, he 
sold and conveyed his real estate to John Gardiner, of Gardi- 
ner's Island, for five hundred pounds, one half of which was 
paid immediately, and Mr. Gardiner obligated himself to pay 
the other half to the assigns of Mr. James witliin one month 
next after his decease. From his selling his estate, and espe- 
cially from the omission of any terms of relationship in the de- 
scription of the persons to whom Mr. Gardiner was to pay the 
residue of the purchase money, it has been inferred tliat Mr. 
James did not leave any posterity ; yet it is ascertained that he 
left two daughters, one of whom was the wife of a Mr. Stretton, 
and the other of Mr. Dimont, both of this town. 

Mr. James seems to have been very zealous for the preserva- 
tion of civil liberty and the proteslant religion, which he saw 
endangered by the arbitrary measures and big-oted principles of 
James II. and his catholic governors, and probably fi-eely and 
boldly expressed his apprehensions in the pulpit. In the mi- 
nutes of the council for November 18th, 1686, it is stated, that 
on the reception of two depositions charging the Rev. Thomas 
James, of Easthampton with having preached a certain sedi- 
tious sermon on the 17th of October preceding, an order was 
passed for a warrant to be issued to have Mr. James before the 
council that day fortnight to answer the premises. The result 
cannot be ascertained from the records. There is little known 
also of his character, but sufficient indications in the records of 
the town evince that he was a faithful preacher and prudent 
man. 

The Rev. Nathaniel Hunting was the successor of Mr. James. 
He was born at Dedham, Massachusetts, November 15, 1675. 
His grandfather was John Hunting, who came from England 
in September, 1638, and settled at Dedham, where he died, 
April 12, 1682. He is said to have been a near relative of the 
memorable John Rogers, who for his religion was burned at the 

25 



194 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

stake in the reign of Glueen Mar5^ Mr. Hunting, of Dedham, 
had three sons, of whom one was John, the father of the minis- 
ter of this town. His wife was Elizabeth Payne, by whom he 
had seven sons and three daughters. His son, the Rev. Mr. 
Hunting, graduated at Harvard College in 1693, and came to 
this town in 1696, where he was finally settled, September 13, 
1699, at a salary of sixty pounds a-year ; in addition to which, 
the town gave him the use of all the parsonage lands, built him 
a house, and gave it to him, with the lot it stood upon, in fee. 
He continued to preach till 1746, a period of fifty years, and 
having become infirm, was at his own request dismissed. His 
death took place in 1753. His wife was Mary Green, by whom 
he had ten children, four of whom died young. His only 
dauofhter married Mr. Coit of New-London. Six sons attained 
maturity; two were farmers, and the rest hberally educated. 
Nathaniel and Jonathan were ministers, but were compelled to 
desist from preaching on account of their health. The latter died 
here in 1750 ; Edward was a physician, and died here in 1745 ; 
Nathaniel died in 1770 ; Samuel was a merchant, and lived at 
Southampton. His son, Samuel, graduated at Yale College in 
1 767, and died in the West Indies, where he had been sent upon 
public business during the revolution. Benjamin, another son, 
was the late Colonel Hunting, one of the principal founders of 
the whaling business at Sagg Harbor, and who died, greatly re- 
spected, on the 17tli of August, 1807, at the age of fifty-three. 
The Rev. Jonathan Hunting, of Southold, is a grandson of the 
last-named Nathaniel Hunting. 

The third minister of this town was the Rev. Samuel Buell, 
born at Coventry, Connecticut, September 1, 1716, and gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1741. He studied theology with the 
Rev. Doctor Edwards of Northampton, afterwards president of 
Princeton College. He was ordained as an itinerant preacher 
in 1743, and on the 19th of September, 1746, was installed 
pastor of this church. When Long Island fell into the hands 
of the British in 1776, he remained with his people, while 
many of the inhabitants removed, and did much to relieve their 
distresses. He was attached to literature and science, and was 
the father and patron of Clinton Academy. His house was the 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 195 

mansion of hospitality. Possessing a large fund of instructive 
and entertaining anecdote, his company was pleasing to persons 
of every age. He followed two wives and eight children to the 
grave. His only surviving child is the widow of the late Rev. 
Aaron Woolworth of Bridgehampton. His first wife was 
Jerusha, daughter of the Rev, Joseph Meacham of Coventry; 
the second was Mary, daughter of Elisha Mulford of this 
town ; and the third, Mary, daughter of Jeremiah Miller, and 
who still survives. Mr. Buell died July 19th, 1798, and, 
with his two predecessors, completed a ministerial period in 
this place of one hundred and fifty -four years. His daughter 
Jerusha was the wife of David Gardiner, and mother of the 
late John Lyon Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island. 

The fourth minister of this town was the Rev. Lyman 
Beecher, who was born at Guilford, Connecticut, in 1773, and 
graduated at Yale College in 1797. His settlement took place 
September 5, 1799, and remained till 1810, when he remov- 
ed to Litchfield. He shortly after went to Boston, where he 
was greatly distinguished for his superior talents, his theolo- 
gical acquirements, and pulpit eloquence. These qualifications, 
united with long experience, have established his fame, and 
caused him to be promoted to the presidency of Lane Seminary 
in Ohio, where his abilities have full scope for exercise, and his 
sphere of usefulness is greatly extended. His person and 
character have been thus briefly described by a writer who 
seems to have been well acquainted with him: — "Doctor 
Beecher (says this writer) is in size below the usual stature ; 
spare and rigid, with bones of brass and nerves of steel-like 
elasticity. His walk and gesticulation are characteristically 
rapid and vehement ; his grey eye kindles incessantly with the 
action of his mind, and the whole of his face indicates an energy 
unsubdued and unsubduable, with a moral fearlessness before 
which stern men will involuntarily fee) their spirits quailing." 
He has within a few years been subjected to strong opposition, 
and no little censure from his theological brethren ; and his publi- 
cations have been criticized with great severity, whether properly 
or not, must be left to the decision of those better skilled than we 
profess to be, in those metaphysical subtleties which make no 



196 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

inconsiderable part of most of religious systems. It is probable, 
however, that the difiiculties he has encountered have had a 
tendency to elevate the character and enhance the popularity of 
Dr. Beecher. His immediate successor here was the Rev. 
Ebenezer Phillips, a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips, 
former minister of Brookhaven. He was settled in 1811, and 
removed, a few years after, on account of his health, and was 
succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Condict. The present clergyman 
is the Rev. Samuel R. Ely. 

Clinton Academy was erected here in 1785, being the first 
institution of the kind upon Long Island, and is much indebt- 
ed, for its origin and success, to the Rev. Dr. Bnell, and Mr. 
William Payne, father of John Howard Payne, formerly known 
as the "American Roscius." Mr. Payne had a high reputation 
as an instructor, and the school under his manaofement obtain- 
ed much celebrity. Ha removed, some years after, to New- 
York, and finally to Boston, where he conducted a seminary 
with great credit and usefulness. This academy has always 
maintained a reputable rank among similar institutions, and 
has done much to elevate the standard of education in this part 
of the island. The Rev. Henry Davis, late president of Ham- 
ilton College, the Hon. Alfred Conkling, one of the judges of 
the District Court of the United States, and Silvanus Miller, 
Esq., an eminent counsellor of the city of New- York, and for- 
mer surrogate, are natives of this town, and received their early 
education at this seminary. President Dwight, in his travels, 
speaking of this place, says, "A general air of equality, simpli- 
city, and quiet, is visible here, in a deo-ree perhaps singular. 
Sequestered, in a great measure, from the busy world, the peo- 
ple exhibit not the same activity and haste which meet the eye 
in some other places. There is, however, no want of the social 
character, but it is regulatedrather by the long-continued customs 
of this single spot, than by the mutable fashions of a great city." 
The village of Easthampton is confined to a single street, of 
about a mile long and eight or ten rods wide. The dwellings 
are about one hundred, mostly of antiquated appearance, and 
rarely painted. The village of Amagansett is situated three 
xniles further east, is of similar appearance, and of nearly equal 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 197 

antiquity, if we may judo-e from the number of graves, and the 
early date of many of the inscnplions. The houses are about 
fifty ; and the inhabitants, like those of the town, generally are 
farmers and mechanics. 

The peninsula of Montauk contains nine thousand acres, 
a part of which was formerly covered with wood, which has 
of late years much depreciated. There are several ponds of 
fresh water, and some considerable bays, which communicate 
with the Sound. The land is owned by about forty individuals, 
as tenants in common, 'l^he orii{inal shares are divided into 
eighths, worth at this time three hundred dollars each, and en- 
titles the owner thereof to the pasture of seven cattle or forty- 
nine sheep. The Indians have a usu-frnctuary interest in a 
portion of the land ; but as the race is nearly extinct, this in- 
cumbrance must be of short duration. The soil of this tract 
is generally of a good quality, and affords a great deal of pasture, 
for which it is used entirely. The surface is rough, and in 
some places so precipitous as to render the travelling somewhat 
alarming. There is a suljlimity and wildness, as well as soli- 
tariness here, which leave a powerful impression on the heart. 
In a storm, the scene which the ocean presents is awfully 
grand and terrific. On the extreme point stands the tall white 
column erected by the government for a light-house in IZQ.**, 
at an expense of twenty-two thousand, three hundred dollars. 
It is constructed of stone in the most substantial manner, and 
would seem almost to bid defiance to time and the elements. 
There is a public-house near by, much resorted to by stran- 
gers in the warm season from every quarter of the country. 
The following beautiful and descriptive lines, written on the 
spot by Mrs. Sigourney in 1837, are well wortliy of preser- 
vation : 

" Vltivia Thule! of this ancient isle, 
Against whose breast the everlasting surge 
Long travelling on, and ominous of wrath. 
For ever beats. Thou lifi'st an eye of light 
Unto the vex'd and storm-toss'd mariner, 
Guiding him safely to his home again. 
So teach us, 'mid our own sore ills, lo wear 
The crown of mercy, and with changeless 
Eye, look up to Heaven." 



/ 



198 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

A singular event took place in this town about half a century 
ago, the circumstances of which seem worth relating. An itin- 
erant pedlar, with the usual assortment of notions, arrived in the 
village late upon a Saturday evening, and apparently afflicted 
with the measles. As the most expeditious mode of notifying the 
people of his arrival, he resolved to attend church next morn- 
ing, against the remonstrances of his host, who thought it high- 
ly improper. He, however, persisted, and accordingly placed 
himself in the midst of the worshipping assembly. After meet- 
ing, the facts transpiring, excited great alarm and indignation, 
and the wrath of the people was kindled against the pedlar. 
He saw, but too plainly, indications of the rising storm, and 
very prudently shouldered his pack early in the morning, and 
made the best of his way to the next town. But the incensed 
populace were not disposed to let him off so easily ; a few young 
men pursued and brought him back to the village, where they 
vented their wrath upon their victim by parading him through 
the street upon a rail, and ever and anon plunging him over 
head and ears into one or other of the town ponds, of which 
there happened, very conveniently for their purpose, to be one 
at each end of the village. Having finally escaped from his 
enemies, he made no delay in finding a lawyer, and who hap- 
pened to be the late Aaron Burr. The terrors of the law were 
fully visited upon the delinquents, and resulted in a verdict for 
theplaintiff of one thousand dollars. The defendants were of 
course dissatisfied, and the people of the town could not per- 
ceive the justice of the verdict, seeing that more than ninety of 
them caught the measles, of which several are said to have 
died. 

Gardiner's Island was called by the Indians Manchotwck, 
and by the English Isle of Wight. It lies upon the north-east 
side of Gardiner's Bay, and contains about three thousand three 
hundred acres, including the beaches and fishponds. The 
shape is irregular, the soil of a good quality, and there is a suf- 
ficiency of woodland and salt meadow. From its first settle- 
ment in 1639 to the year 1780, it remained an independent 
plantation ; but in the latter year it was annexed by law to the 
town of Easthampton, and of which it constitutes a very im- 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 199 

portant part, being generally assessed for about one sixth of the 
public expenses of the town. Its distance from the nearest 
shore of Long Island is three miles, six from Oyster-Pond 
Point, and ten from.the village of Easthampton. 

By virtue of his authority from the Earl of Stirling, James 
Farret conveyed this island to Lyon Gardiner on the 10th of 
March, 1(339, he having previously agreed with the native In- 
dian proprietors for their right. The consideration paid to the 
Indians, according to well-established tradition, was one large 
black dog, one gun and ammunition, some rum, and a few 
Dutch blankets. He was also to pay to the Earl of Stirling 
and his heirs the yearly sum of five pounds, if demanded. 

" Of Lyon Gardiner, Governor Winthrop in his journal says, 
that on the 29th of November, 1635, there arrived a small 
barque of twenty-five tons, sent by the Lords Say and Brook, 
with one Gardiner, an expert engineer or work-base, and pro- 
visions of all sorts, to begin a fort at the mouth of Connec- 
ticut River." In Trumble's History, it is said '' that Lyon Gar- 
diner, who had been procured to superintend the fort at Say- 
brook, and who afterwards commanded the garrison, was a 
gentleman of respectability and worth." He was a native of 
Scotland, and had served as a lieutenant in the British army in 
the Low Countries. He belonged to the republican party, with 
the illustrious Hamden, Oliver Cromwell, and others of the 
same spirit. He continued in the command at Saybrook till 
the fall of 1639, when he removed to, and took possession of, the 
island which he had purchased in the spring. On the settle- 
ment of Easthampton, ten years thereafter, he removed there, 
where he continued to reside. He was chosen a magistrate^ 
and transacted various public business till his decease in 1663. 
His son David, born at Saybrook April 29, 1636, is generally 
believed to have been the first white child born in Connecticut^ 
as his daughter Elizabeth, born September 14, 1641, was the 
first child born of European parents within the limits of Suf- 
folk County. 

The family Bible of Mr. Gardiner is now in possession of his 
descendants upon the island, in which is written, in his own 
hand, as follows : " In the year 1635, the 10th day of July, 



200 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

came I, Lyon Gardiner, and Mary my wife, from Woden, a 
town of Holland, where my wife was born, being the daughter 
of one Diricke Wilienison ; her mother's name was Hachir, 
and her annt, sister of her mother, was the wife of Wonter Le- 
anderson, Old Burger Muster, dwelling in the Hostnde, over 
against the Bruser, in the Unicorne's Head ; her brother's name 
was Punce Garrelson, also old Burger Muster. We came from 
Woden to London, and from thence to New England, and 
dwelt at Saybrook fort four years ; it is at the mouth of Con- 
necticut River, of which I was commander ; and there was 
born to me a son, named David, the first born in that place ; 
and in 1638 a daughter was born, named Mary, 3Uth of August, 
and then I went to an island of my own, which I had bought 
of the Indians, called by them Manchonock, by us Isle of 
Wight, and there was born another daughter the 14th of Sep- 
tember, 1641, she being the first child of English parents born 
there." While he lived upon the island, he was instrumental 
in performing an important service to Wyandance, the Long 
Island Sachem, in return for which the Sachem presented 
him a deed in 1659 for the land which now composes the town 
of Smithtown, and which Mr. Gardiner, in 1663, sold to Richard 
Smith, the first settler of that town. The service performed by 
Gardiner was the redeeming from his Indian enemies the 
Sachem's daughter, who, with otiiers, had been captured at 
Block Island. 

His son Daniel went to England, where he married in 1657, 
and came into possession of the island on the death of his 
fiither in 1663. In 1689 he was chosen by the eastern towns 
to represent them on some matters of importance before the ge- 
neral assembly at Hartford, where he died suddenly, and was 
buried at that place. The following is a copy of the inscrip- 
tion upon his tomb in the city of Hartford, 

" Here lyeth the body of Mr. David Gardiner, of Gar- 
diner's Island, deceased July 10, 1689, in the fifty 
fovrth year of his age, loell, sick, dead in one hovr^s 
space." 
He left two sons, John and Lyon. The former possessed 
the island, and the latter settled in Easthampton^ and was ac- 



TOWN OP EASTHAMHTON. 201 

cidentally shot by one Samuel Bennet, while hunting deer toge- 
ther near three-mile-harhor. He left two sons, Lyon and 
Giles. The latter died young, leaving no son. Lyon remained 
^ in the town, where he died in 1781, at the age of ninety-three. 
He was a wealthy farmer, and was highly esteemed and res- 
pected. His sons were John, Lyon, and Jeremiah. Lyon died 
without issue. .Tohn lived in the lown of Easthampton, where 
he died in 1780, aged fifty-nine. He was a man of more 
than ordinary talents, much devoted to philosophy and the 
mathematics, for which he was distinguished. He had a son, 
John, who hired the estate of his father, and followed the busi- 
ness of a farmer till a short time previous to his death. In 
1795 he purchased a farm at Moriches, where he died, at the 
age of forty-eight, in the year 1800. He left three sons, the Rev. 
John D. Gardiner, Abraham H. Gardiner, and Dr. Aaron F. 
Gardiner. John Gardiner, the eldest son of David, died in 
possession of the island in 1764. His sons were David and 
John. The latter became the owner of Eaton's Neck about 
the year 1786, where he died, a few years since, leaving 
three sons, Jonathan, John, and Matthew. David became 
the owner of the island, and married the daughter of the 
Rev. Mr. Buell, by whom he had two sons, John Lyon, and 
David. The latter settled at Flushing, where he died, leaving 
sons. John Lyon married the daughter of the Hon. Roger 
Griswold, and died upon the island, November 22, 1816. His 
son, John G. Gardiner, is now the owner, and in possession of 
the island, having purchased the interest of his surviving 
brother and sister. The staple produce of this island are 
beef, wheat, and cheese ; and the average stock consists of 
twenty-five hundred sheep, one hundred horses, sixty-five cows, 
and four hundred other neat cattle. 

The notorious pirate Kidd, having visited, and buried a va- 
luable treasure upon this island, it may seem not improper to 
o-ive a brief account of that individual. 

William Kidd, the famous freebooter and pirate, was the 
commander of a merchant vessel which sailed between New- 
York and London, and celebrated for his nautical skill and 
enterprise -. on which account he was strongly recommended 

26 



202 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

by Mr. Livinofston of New- York, then in London, as a proper 
person to take charge of a vessel which Lord Romney and 
others had purchased, and were then fitting out against the 
hordes of marauders which infested the Indian seas, and prey- 
ed upon the commerce of all nations. The expense of this ex- 
pedition was £6000 sterling. It was a joint fund, to which the 
King, liord Somers, the Earl of Rumsey, the Duke of Shrews- 
bury, the Earl of Oxford, Lord Bellamont, and Mr. Livingston 
were contributors. Kidd agreed to be concerned to the amount 
of one-fifth of the whole, and Mr. Livingston became his sure- 
ty for the sum of £600. He soon set sail, and arrived on the 
American coast^ where he continued for some time, and was 
useful in protecting our commerce, for which he received much 
public applause ; and the assembly of this state voted him the 
sumof£250 as an acknowledgment of his services. He soon 
after established himself at the Island of Madagascar, where 
he lay like a shark, darting out at pleasure, and robbing with 
impunity the vessels of every country. Having captured 
a larger and better vessel than his own, he burnt the one in 
which he had sailed, and took command of the other ; in 
which he ranged over the Indian coast from the Red Sea to 
Malabar, and his depredations extended from the Eastern 
Ocean, back along the Atlantic coast of South America, 
through the Bahamas, the whole West Indies, and the 
shores of Long Island. The last of which were selected as the 
fittest for depositing hi^ ill-gotten treasures. He is supposed 
to have returned from the east with more valuable spoil than 
ever fell to the lot of any other individual. On his home- 
ward passage from the West Indies to Boston, where he 
was finally apprehended, he anchored in Gardiner's Bay, and 
in the presence of the owner of the island, Mr. Gardiner, and 
under the most solemn injunctions of secrecy, buried a chest 
of gold, silver, and precious stones. On the 3d of July, 1699, 
he was summoned before Lord Bellamont at Boston, and order- 
ed to report his proceedings while in the service of the com- 
pany ; which, refusing to do, he was immediately arrested and 
transported to England, where he was tried, convicted, and 
executed at " Execution Dock " on the 12th of May, 1701. 



TOWN OF EASTHAMPTON. 203 

He was found guilty of the murder of William Moore, gunner 
of the ship, and was hung in chains. Mr. John G. Gardiner 
has a small piece of gold cloth, which his father received from 
Mrs. Wetmore, who gave also the following account of Kidd's 
visit to the island. *' I remember, (she says,) when very young, 
hearing my mother say that her grand-mother was wife to Lord 
Gardiner when the pirate came to that island. He wanted 
Mrs. Gardiner to roast him a pig; she being afraid to refuse 
him, roasted it very nice, and he was much pleased with it. 
He then made her a present of this cloth, which she gave to her 
two daughters ; what became of the other, know I not ; but this 
was handed down to me, and is, I believe, as nice as when first 
given, which must be upwards of a hundred years." 

It having been ascertained that he had buried treasures upon 
this island, commissioners were sent by Governor Bellamont, 
who obtained the same, and for which they gave the following 
receipt : 

" A true account of all such gold, silver, jewels, and mer- 
chandize, late in the possession of Captain William Kidd, 
which have been seized and secured by us pursuant to an or- 
der from his Excellency, Richard Earl of Bellamont, bearing 
date July 7, 1099. 

Received, the 17th instant, of Mr. John Gardiner, viz.' ounces. 

No. 1. One bag of dust-gold, . - . . . 63 J 

2. One bag of coined gold, - - - - - 11 

and one in silver, --.-.- 124 

3. One bag dust-gold, .---.. 24J 

4. Ojie bag of silver rings, and sundry precious stones, - 4-1 

5. One bag of unpolished stones, - - - - . 12^ 

6. One piece of crystal, cornelian rings, two agates, two amythists. 

7. One bag silver buttons and lamps, .... 

8. One bag of broken silver, - - . - . 173^ 

9. One bag of gold bars, - . . - . 353^ 

10. One do. ------ - 238^ 

11. One bag of dust-gold, . . - . ^ . . 59^ 

12. One bag silver bars. ..... 3qj 

Samuel Sewall, Nathaniel Byfield, > 

Jeremiah Dummer, Andrew Belcher, 

CommisoionerB. 



204 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



TOWN OF SOUTtlAMPTOX. 



This town, called by the natives Agawam, is bounded south 
by the ocean, west by Brookhaven, north, partly by Riverhead 
and partly by Peconic Bay, separating it from Southold, and 
east by Easthampton. Length, from east to west, about 
twenty miles ; and breadth, in the widest place, six miles. The 
name was given in remembrance of Southampton in England, 
from which port the settlers took their departure from Europe, 
The surface is generally level, and the soil a light sandy loam, 
except the western part, which is mostly sand, and the roads 
heavy and tedious. About the villages of Southampton, 
Bridgehampton, and Sagg, the soil is naturally fertile, and is 
well cultivated. This town was settled in 1640, being cotem- 
porary with tlie settlement of Southold, nine years previous to 
Easthampton and fifteen anterior to Brookhaven. In Ogilby's 
America, it is mentioned that about the year 1640, by a fresh 
supply of people that settled Long Island, there was erected a 
town called Southampton, and severed (he says) from the con- 
tinent of Nevvhaven, they not finding a place in any other of 
the colonies. In Winthrop's Journal, he states that about forty 
families, finding themselves straitened, left the town of Lynn 
with the design of settling a new plantation. They invited Mr. 
Abraham Pierson, of Boston, to become their minister, who, 
with seven of the emigrants, entered into a church covenant 
before they departed. By an agreement, bearing date the 17th 
of April, 1640, James Farret, agent of the Earl of StirHng, 
authorized Captain Daniel How, Job Sayre, and others their 
associates, to purchase lands, and form a settlement on Long 
Island ; " with as full and free liberty, both in church order and 
civil government, as the plantations in Massachusetts enjoyed." 
In consequence of this agreement, Captain How and his asso- 
ciates sailed from Lynn in a vessel belonging to him, and arriv- 
ed at Cow Bay, in the western part of Long Island, sometimes 
called Scout's Bay. On their arrival they made a purchase of 
the natives, which extended from the eastern part of Oyster 
Bay to the western part of Cow Bay, (afterwards named How's 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 205 

Bay,) to the middle of the plains, being half the breadth of the 
island ; and immediately commenced a settlement in the western 
part of their purchase. " On receiving information of this, 
Governor Kieft sent men to take possession, who set up the 
arms of the Prince of Orange on a tree. The Lynn people cut 
down the tree, and began to build. Captain How likewise took 
away the Prince's arms, and in stead thereof an Indian drew a 
very ugly face. This so incensed the governor, that he sent 
Cornelius Van Tienhoven, the secretary, the under-sheriff, a 
sergeant and twenty-five soldiers, to break up the settlement. 
The party set out on the 14th, and returned the 15th of May. 
They found the company, consisting of eight men and a woman 
with an infant, who had erected one house, and were engaged 
in erecting another. The party brought six of the men with 
them to the governor, to wit. Job Sayre, George Wells, John 
Farrington, Philip Cartland, Nathaniel Cartland, and William 
Harcher, whom he confined, and examined on oath. On exa- 
mination it appeared that they came from Lynn, near Boston, 
and were brought to the island by James Farret, in a vessel 
coinuianded by Daniel How, both of whom had returned to 
New-Haven. On the 19th, these men, on signing an agree- 
ment to leave the place, were dismissed." After their settlement 
at Cow Bay was broken up. Captain How and his associates 
came to this town, bargained with the natives for a tract of 
land, and advanced them a part of the consideration to secure 
the purhase. On the 13th of December, 1640, they arranged 
the payment of the balance, obtained a deed for the land, and 
commenced their settlement. They held their first town meet- 
ing on the 6th of April, 1641, and their proceedings are regu- 
larly recorded from that perio^i. The acknowledgment to the 
Earl of Stirling, or his heirs, was fixed by Governor Winthrop 
of Boston in 1641, according to an agreement with James 
Farret, at four bushels of Indian corn, payable the last day of 
September annually, at Southampton. Soon after their arrival, 
they were joined by other families, according to agreement 
previously made at Lynn; for while there, they formed a civil 
contract, and entered into articles of confederation for their 
future government. Of one of these instruments the following 
is a copy : 



20'3 HISTORY OF LONC! ISLAND. 

" Know all men whome these presents may concerne, yt 
whereas it is expressed in our agreement that the power of dis- 
posins^e of lands and admission of inhabitants into our planta- 
con, shall at all tymes remaine in the hands of us, the said 
undertakers, to us and our heyres forever; and our intent and 
meaning is, that when our plantacon is layd out by those ap- 
poynted accordinge to our artikle ; and that there shall be a 
church gathered and constituted accordinge to the mynde of 
Christ, that then wee doe ffreely lay downe our power both 
of orderinge and disposinge of the plantacon, and receiv- 
inge of inhabitants, or any other thinge, provided that they 
shall not doe any thing contrary to the true meaninge of the 
fFormer artikles. fturthermore, whereas it is expressed in a 
fformer artikle, that the lands of the undertakers should at all 
tymes remaine ffree, affordinge any help to build meetinge- 
houses, or makinge a bridge, or mendinge of highways or the 
like, duringe the tyme of their discontinuance ffrom the planta- 
con ; it is thought meete that it shall take place and stande in 
iforce but two yeares, unless there be some good reason given 
for it ; and then those shall have land only for the third yeare, 
provided that within the third yeare they come back again." 
Previous to leaving the town of Lynn, Captain How purchased 
of Edward Howell, Edward ffarrington, Josiah Stanborough, 
Oeorge Wells, Job Say re, Edward Needham, Henry Walton, 
and Thomas Sayre, their parts of the vessel in which they 
were to embark for Long Island. On which account he agreed 
to transport as many goods as the undertakers should desire, at 
a certain sum per ton in payment of the price of the vessel, 
which was sixty-five pounds. And it was further stipulated, 
that the vessel should be wholly employed in the service of the 
plantation, and not be sold away without consent of the com- 
pany ; and also that the said vessel should be ready at the 
town of Lynn, to transport the persons and goods of the com- 
pany, three times in the year, if required. This contract bears 
date the 10th of March, 1639, and still remains, although much 
mutilated, in the clerk's office of the town. The names of the 
settlers who had arrived during the first twelve months, were 
as follows : 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 



207 



Daniel How, 

Thomas Goldsmith, 
John Oldlields, 
Samuel Dayton, 
Thomas Burnet, 
John Howell, 
Thomas Sayre, 
Edward Howell, 
■William Odell, 
Thomas Topping, 
John Woodruff, 
Allen Breed, 
Edmnnd ffarrington, 
Isaac Hillnian, 
John Cooper, 



Henry Pierson, 
Richard Post, 
Obediah Rogers, 
John Fordham, 
John Lum, 
Samuel Osman. 
John Rose, 
James Herrick, 
ChrisLopher Foster, 
Joseph Raynor, 
Ellis Cook, 
John Jagger, 
Richard Smith, 
Thomas Hildreth, 
John Hampton, 
Joshua Barnes, 



Abraham Pierson, 
Edward Needham, 
Samuel James, 
John Gosman, 
John Bishop, 
John White, 
William Payne, 
John Jessup, 
Josiah Howe, 
Henry Walton, 
William Harker, 
John Jennings, 
Benjamin Haynes, 
^ George Wells, 
Job Sayre. 



George Woods, 

The conveyance for eight miles square of land from James 
Farret, the agent of Lord Stirling, to the above-named persons, 
is recorded on the town books as follows : 

" Memorandum ; It is agreed upon between James Farret, 
agent, and Edward Howell, John Gosmer, Edmund ffarrington, 
Daniel How, Thomas Halsey, Edward Needham, Allen Breed, 
Thomas Sayre, Henry Walton, George Wells, William Harker, 
and Job Sayre ; that whereupon it is agreed upon in a cove- 
nant passed between us touching the extente of a plantacon in 
Long Island, that the aforesaid Mr. Edward Howell and his 
co-partners shall enjoy eight miles square of land, or so much 
as the said eight miles shall containe, and that now lie in said 
bounds, being layd out and agreed uppon : It is to begin at a 
place westward from Shinnecock, entitled the name of the 
place where the Indians drawe over their cannoes out of the 
north bay, over to the south side of the island, and from there 
to run along that neck of land eastward the whole breadth be- 
tween the bay aforesaid, to the easterly end of an island or neck 
of land lying over against the island commonly known by the 
name of Mr. Farret's Island. To enjoy all and every parte 
thereof, according as yt is expressed in our agreement elsewhere, 
with that island or neck, lying over against Mr. Farret's Is- 
land, formerly expressed. James Farret." 

" Thomas Dexter, ; ,X7-. 

V Witnesses. 
Richard Walker." \ 



^^^ HISTORY Of long ISLAND. 



A deed for the same lands from the Indians to John Gosmer, 
Edward Howell, Edmund ffarrington, George Wells, Edward 
Needham, Thomas Sayre, Job Sayre, Edmund Halsey, Tho- 
mas Halsey, Henry Walton, Daniel Howell. John Cooper, Al- 
len Breed, and William Harker, bears date December 13, 1640, 
for the consideration of sixteen coats already received, and al- 
so fourscore bushels of Indian corn, to be paid upon lawful de- 
mand by the last of September, 1641 ; and upon further consi- 
deration " that the said English shall defend us the sayd In- 
dians from the unjust violence of any Indians that shall 
illegally assaile «5." 

In 1652, " the town meeting agreed to allow their neighbors 
of Easthampton liberty to grind their corn at their mill, provid- 
ed they helped to open the sepoose." 

The inhabitants, at their settlement, had entered into a con- 
tract with each orher. to be governed by such laws and orders 
as should be made by the major vote, and to support the au- 
thority of the magistrates in executing such ordinances as 
should be in force among them. In most of the towns the de- 
cisions of the magistrates were conclusive upon the parties ; but 
m this town an appeal was allowed from the magistrates to the 
town meeting, called the general court, which heard the appeal, 
and gave such judgment as the majority approved. The 
town courts were vigilant in repressing and punishing all kinds 
of vice and profanity; and in 1653 they ordered that if any 
person over fourteen years of age should be convicted of wilful 
lying by the testimony of two witnesses, he should be fined 
five shillings, or set in the stocks five hours ; and if any person 
should be convicted of drunketmess, he should be fined ten 
shillings for the first offence, twenty for the second, and thirty 
for the third. By a resolution of town meeting in 16'15, it was 
ordered, '' that if any man shall take away any part of any man's 
working tools, or irons, harrows, yoakes, chaynes, or plowes, 
from any part of the common field without license from the 
owners, they shall pay to the owner ten shillings toward ma- 
king restitution." 

In Allen's American Biography, it is said that •' Allen Breed 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 209 

was one of the first settlers of Lynn ; that he was bom in En- 
gland in 1601, and arrived in this country in 1630. He was a 
farmer, and lived in the western part of Summer-street, Lynn, 
possessing two hundred acres of land. He is one of the grantees 
named in the Indian deed of Southampton, Long Island, and died 
March 17, 16j)2,aged ninety-one. His descendants in Lynn and 
other towns in Massachusetts are numerous ; from one of whom 
was derived the name of Breed's Hill, celebrated for the battle 
of 1775, called by mistake the battle of Bunker's Hill." It is 
probable that he returned again to Lynn, as did Edmund Far- 
rington also ; for it appears from the history of that town that 
he built a mill there in 1655, where a pond was dug, and a 
new brook opened for half a mile, called Farrington's Brook. 
He died in 1680, at the age of eighty-eight years. Captain Dan- 
iel How, another of the original settlers of this town, in the year 
1645 transferred his possessions to John Gosmer, for four pounds, 
payable in wampum, two cows, and ten bushels of barley. He 
went to Easthampton, and was one of the first settlers of that 
town. He had been admitted a freeman of Lynn in 1634, was 
a representative in the general court of Massachusetts in 1636, 
and was several times re-elected. He was also lieutenant of 
an artillery company in 1638, -in which year he removed to 
Newhaven, and from thence to Long Island. 

"At a town meeting, October 6th, 1652, it is ordered that 
whoever makes it appear that he killeth any wolf within the 
bounds of this town, shall have paid unto him by ye town the 
sum of twenty shillings ; and he yt killeth a wolf at Quaquaout 
shall have ten shillings in like manner ; and it is further or- 
dered, that if any goats are found without a keeper, and any 
person so finding them, bring them home unto the owners, 
they, the owners of the said goats, shall pay a penny the goat 
for them unto those who so bring them home, and also pay for 
the harm which it shall appear is done by them." The follow- 
ing extracts show the manner in which testimony was taken 
and recorded in the general court of Southampton, the style 
and abbreviations being scrupulously preserved as a matter of 
curiosity to the reader. 

^^Southampton, April 24, 1655. The deposition of Mr. 

27 



210 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

Richard Smith : — This deponent sayth, when he was uppon the 
jury concerning ye tryall of an action depending in cort be- 
tweene John Cooper and Jonas Wood, wee received divers tes- 
tintionies in cort, which were broght in by ye said Jonas Wood, 
whereby wee of ye jury found for Jonas Wood, amongst wh 
testimony's was the deposition of Goody Bishop, Goody Gar- 
lick, and Samuel Parsons. — May 1, 1655. The deposition of 
Christopher ffoster, who afRrmeth upon his oath, yt being at 
Hempstead a little before the last winter, when and where he 
heard a bargaine contracted betweene Jonas Halsted and Jonas 
Wood, Hallifax, viz : Jonas Wood did buy of ye foresaid Jonas 
four hoggs, which hoggs this depont. doth affirme that hee 
saw delivered at Southampton. — March 9, 1655. The depo- 
sition of Ann White. This depont. sayth yt shee heard Tho- 
mas Dale tell Sara Cooper that Mark Meggs did come to him 
once when hee was almost fuddled, and asked him if hee did 
not remember hee heard Henry Pierson say at Goodman Coy's, 
that Jonas should bee cast out of church and commonwealth 
shortly ; whereunto Thomas Dale answereth noe, I did not 
hear him say noe such thinge. Taken before me, Thomas 
Topping, Juotice. 

^^ At a toivn meeting, November 14, 1665. It is concluded 
that John Jessup is to call forth thirty men to goe to the west 
sepoose, and if any refuse to goe, being warned, shall pay unto 
ye town five shillings. Also, whoever hath any convenient 
toole fitt for the worke, and refuseth to lend the same, shall also 
pay five shillings, and the said John Jessup shall have power 
to levy the fine by way of execution, and returne account 
thereof to ye tow ne. 

" At a general court, held March 6, 1654. It is ordered that 
noe Indian shall digg for ground-nuts in the plain, or digg in 
any ground, uppon penalty of sitting in the stocks for ye first 
fault, and for the second to be whipped. And if any of ye 
English see any Indian howing or digging as aforesaid, they 
may peaceably bring them to the magistrates, if they can ; if 
not, to take the hoes or digging instruments away from them ; 
and this to take effect as soon as the Sachem or Indians have 
warning hereof. 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 211 

^^ February 7, 1655. An action of defamation of Thomas 
Rogers against James Gill. Verdict of the jury — wee finde for 
ye Plaintive, first our charges, and the said James to bee sharply 
whipped, and then banished out of this jurisdiction ; with this 
proviso, yt his creditors will bee bound to keep him to his 
good behaviour, or else to sell him out of our jurisdiction for 
two years' service, and the towne be noe more troubled with 
him. Judgment is granted accordingly by the cort. 

" May 10, 1656. At a towne meetinge it is concluded and 
agreed uppon, that Mr. Edward Howell shall have power to 
nominate and appoint two neighbours of this towne to goe to 
the Connecticut, to treat of matters that may concerne this 
towne, and to put us under their jurisdiction for future gov- 
erment. 

" April 10, 1653. It is ordered by the general court, that 
henceforth the Indians shall not any of them come to this towne, 
or into the plaines, or any nearer the towne than the head of 
the Long Greek at the west end of the plaines ; neither shall 
any of them come to the Mill with any gun, or bow and arrows, 
uppon penalty of forfeiting any such instrument to any Eng- 
lishman who shall take them away from any such Indian. 

" At a toione meeting, held ye lOth day of June, 1653, it is 
ordered and concluded by the major vote of the inhabitants 
that Jonas Wood shall goe wt ye vessell at North Sea, wh is 
shortly to goe to the River's mouth, as a messenger from this 
towne unto Captaine Mason, to obtaine for ye towne a store of 
ammunition, accordinge to order of the collony in that behalf; 
and the towne doe promise to pay him what in reason is meet 
for his tyme and expenses. — August 18, 1653. At a towne 
meetinge it is ordered that there shall be another attempt to let 
goe Shinnecock water." From this entry, it is probable that 
Shinnecock Bay was not then connected with the ocean, or 
that the entrance had become closed by sand, as is the case 
with several ponds in this town at the present day. In the 
year 1675 there were in this town seventy-five men who bore 
arms in the militia, and they were required to meet for inspec- 
tion six times a-year. In 1659 the town voted to send to Con- 
necticut for a copy of their laws, and selected from them such 



^^^ HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



as they deemed applicable to their condition; and the nni- 
formity which prevailed in most of the English towns may be 
attributed to the fact of their having extracted most of their 
laws from the same code. The salary, both of the minister 
and the schoolmaster, was raised by an assessment upon the 
inhabitants, and was generally apportioned accordino- to the 
number of acres of improved land which each one possessed 
In order to secure the influence and protection of the people of 
New England, as well from the Dutch as the Indians, this town 
early sought an alliance with Connecticut, and was received 
nito that jurisdiction in the year 1644. They were conse- 
quently represented by deputies in the general court at Hartford - 
but no attempt appears to have been made by Connecticut ta 
levy taxes upon the town until the reception of the charter of 
the colony in 1662. The following persons were deputies from 
this town to the general court of Connecticut at the periods 
mentioned ; 

From 1655 to 1058 Thomas Topping. From 1659 to 1663. Thomas Topping. 
lo5d to 1659, Alexander Knowles. 1633 to 1664. Edward Howell 

The Rev. Abraham Pierson was the first minister of this 
town. He had been a preacher in Yorkshire, Eno-land He 
came to Boston in 1639, and joined the church there. Those 
English emigrants who had made a stand at Lynn, havino- 
agreed to form a settlement upon Long Island, Mr. Pierson 
consented to accompany them, and he assisted materially in 
organizing the settlement. He continued with them till they 
put themselves under Connecticut in 1644. He preferred being 
connected with New-Haven, because in that colony the right of 
voting was confined alone to church members. He, therefore 
with a few of his adherents, removed to Branford near New- 
Haven, which had begun to be settled in 1638, and there put 
themselves under the colony of New-Haven. When this colo- 
ny renounced her independence, and became consolidated with 
Connecticut in 1662, Mr. Pierson, adhering to his former opin- 
ions, again removed with some of his congregation to a part of 
New Jersey which they called Newark, where they made a 
settlement, whereby Mr. Pierson became the first pastor of a third 
settlement. In 1668 the people there, voted to pay the expen- 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 213 

ses of his removal, contributed to the digging him a well, and 
allowed him £,80 salary a-year. He died there in the year 
1680. His son, Abraham, who graduated at Harvard College 
in 1669, became the first president of Yale College, at Killing- 
worth, in 1701, and continued there till his death in 1707. The 
Rev. Dr. Ashbel Greene, of Philadelphia, is his grandson. 

The next minister of this town was the Rev. Robert Ford- 
ham, settled in 1649. He also came from England. Johnson, 
in his Woiider- Working' Providence, says, " Mr. Fordam first 
went to the west part of Long Island," and it is probable that 
he accompanied the Rev. Mr. Denton to Hempstead in 1644, 
as he is the first person named in the Dutch patent of that 
town from Governor Kieft, and he resided at Hempstead when 
he received the invitation to remove to this town. He remain- 
ed the minister here till his death in 1674. He was a man of 
learning, and the owner of a large estate. His library was 
valued after his death at fifty- three pounds, and his property at 
two thousand. The Rev. Josiah Fordham, who was his grand- 
son, preached awhile at Setauket after the death of Mr. 
Brewster in 1690. The next clergyman of this town was the 
Rev. Joseph Taylor, who arrived in 1680. He came from 
New-Haven. But little information has been obtained con- 
cerning him, except that he died, April 4, 1682, at the age of 
thirty-one, having preached about two years. He was followed by 
the Rev. Joseph Whiting in 1682. He was the youngest son of 
the Rev. Samuel Whiting, a distinguished preacher at Norfolk, 
England, and the first minister of Lynn, Massachusetts. Mr. 
Whiting graduated at Harvard College in 1661. His daughter 
married the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart, afterwards minister of 
Hempstead. Cotton Mather, speaking of him, says, "Joseph is 
at this day a worthy and painful minister of the gospel at 
Southampton." He left a son, who graduated at Harvard in 
1700, settled as the minister of Concord, New Hampshire, in 
1712, where he died in 1752. As the records of this church 
are extremely defective, little can be learned respecting the 
subsequent clergymen beyond their names. It is ascertamed 
that the Rev. Samuel Gelston settled here in 1727, and remain- 
ed till his death, October 22d, 1782, having preached about 



214 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

fifty-four years. It was daring his time that the Suffolk pres- 
bytery was formed, and the government of several of the 
churches in the county was changed from the congregational 
to the presbyterian form. He was educated at Harvard Uni- 
versity, where he graduated in 1722. His successor in the 
ministery here was the Rev. Herman Dagget, who graduated at 
Brown University in 1783. His settlement took place in 1791, 
and after several years he removed to the parish of Middletown, 
in the town of Brookhaven, officiating a part of the time in the 
church at Fireplace. He finally removed to Connecticut. 
The next clergyman was the Rev. David S. Bogart, a native 
of Q,ueen's County, and who graduated at Columbia College 
in 1790. He was settled in 1796, removed to North-Hemp- 
stead in 1812, and from thence to the city of New- York, where 
he now resides. The Rev. John M. Babbit was settled here 
in 1813, but removed in 1818 ; and was succeeded by the Rev. 
Peter Shaw in 1820. The present clergyman is the Rev. 
Henry N. Wilson. 

The first church here, was built in 164 J, the year succeeding 
the settlement of the town, and remained for sixty-five ^^ears. 
A second church was erected in 1707, and which, having stood 
one hundred and thirteen years, was succeeded by the present 
stately edifice in 1820. The academy near the church was 
completed in 1831, and has been thus far well supported. It 
is a handsome and convenient structure, and is creditable 
to the spirit and intelligence of the people concerned in 
its erection. By an act of Assembly, passed May 16th, 
1669, the -precinct of Bridgehampton and Mecoxe was de- 
clared to be a distinct parish, /or the building and erect- 
ing a meetiiig-house ; and the first church was finished in 
a year or two thereafter. It was taken down in 1737, and the 
present edifice erected in its stead. This place was called by the 
Indians Segahoneck. The village was contemplated to have 
been built a little south of the present site, and the place in- 
tended is still designated as the old toion. The" first pastor of 
this church was the Rev. Ebenezer White, who graduated at 
Harvard College in 1692, and was settled here in 1695. His 
health failing, he resigned in 1748, and died in 1756. He was 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 215 

succeeded by the Rev. James Brown, son of the Rev. Chadd 
Brown, of Providence, Rhode Island ; and related to those wor- 
thy individuals, the liberal founders of Brown University in 
that state. He graduated at Yale College in 1747, and was set- 
tled here in 1756'. His removal took place in 1775, and the 
parish had no regularly stated preacher till the 30th of August, 
1787, when the Rev. Aaron Woolworth was installed here. 
He was born at Long Meadow in Massachusetts, October 25, 
1763, and graduated at Yale College in 1784. His wife was 
the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Buell of Easthampton, whose 
memoirs he published. His death occurred the 2d of April, 
1821. He was a man of much classical learning, an eloquent 
divine, and extensively acquainted with ecclesiastical history. 
His immediate successor was the present clergyman, the Rev. 
Amzi Francis. 

The Methodists have erected a very handsome church in 
the centre of the village of Bridgehampton, which is an ornament 
to the place. The Hon. Nathan Sandford, late chancellor of 
this state, and a senator in the congress of the United States, 
was a native of this part of the town. Mr. Foster Rhodes, who 
accompanied the late Henry Eckford to Constantinople, and 
who has since been engaged as ship-builder to the Sultan, was 
born in the village of Southampton, and is a son of Mr. Henry 
Rhodes, merchant of that place. On a late occasion of launch- 
ingone of the largest ships in the world, (in Turkey,) the Sultan 
was so elated at his success, that he embraced Mr. Rhodes in 
the most enthusiastic manner, and presented him at the same 
time a gold medal set in diamonds, of great value and of ex- 
quisite beauty. Southerly of this village is a splendid sheet of 
water, known as Mocoxe Bay, communicating with the ocean 
by a narrow inlet, and abounding with oysters of a superior 
quality. It is about four miles long, and less than one in 
breadth. Sagg Pond is also of considerable size, but is liable 
to have its inlet obstructed by sand carried into it by the cur- 
rent, and requiring to be cleared out occasionally. The 
village of Sagg was settled at an early period. The inhabitants 
are farmers, and the land here, as well as about Bridgehampton, 
is well cultivated. Sagg-Harbor derived its name from having 



216 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

been originally the port or landing-place of Sagg. Shinnecock 
Bay, (sometimes called Southampton Bay,) is a very charming 
piece of water. It is more than ten miles long, and from three 
to four wide. It is separated from the ocean by a narrow sand- 
beach, which has doubtless been entirely formed by the sea. 
This beautiful expanse of water has long been celebrated for 
the excellence and variety of its marine productions. The 
clams found here are of a superior quality, and so abundant 
as to afford almost constant employment for about fifty persons, 
who probably take more than ten thousand dollars worth an- 
nually, which are properly prepared, put up in casks, and trans- 
ported up the western and northern canals to the utmost 
limits of the state. The territory of Shinnecock, containing 
some thousand acres, is little else tiian a series of sand hills, in- 
terspersed with intervals of level ground, which yield sufficient 
pasture for a considerable number of cattle and sheep, for at least 
half the year. The northern portion, adjoining Peconic Bay, 
is the best soil, and is indented with a few coves, which yield a 
quantity of salt grass about their edges. The western part, 
where it is connected with the main island, was called by the 
natives Merosuck, or Canoe-Place, and where they used to 
transport their canoes across from the north to the south bay. 
There is a tradition that a small ditch or canal once existed here 
between the two bays, which was constructed under the direction 
of Mongotucksee or Long-knife^ who once reigned lord of the 
Montauks and other neiofhborins: tribes. A small remnant of 
the Shinnecock race still lingers on the south-eastern part of 
this tract, where they have a small church and a lew comfort- 
able dwellings ; but their ancient language and customs are no 
longer preserved, 

Sag g -Harbor is the most populous, wealthy, and commercial 
place in the county, and may therefore not improperly be con- 
sidered the emporium of Suffolk. The capital employed in 
trade here probably exceeds that of the whole county besides, 
there being nearly a million of dollars invested in the whale- 
fishery alone, employing a tonnage of more than six thousand, 
exclusive of several fine packets and other vessels engaged in 
the coasting business. It is supposed that no permanent settle- 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 217 

ment was attempted here previous to 1730, and then only a few 
small cottages were erected near the head of the present wharf, 
for the convenience of those engaged in fishing. Most of the 
land in the vicinity was then covered with timber and forest, 
and it is probable also that no inconsiderable number of Indians 
dwelt in the vicinity. In 1760 several respectable families es- 
tablished themselves here, perceiving that it possessed many 
local advantages, and built for themselves comfortable houses. 
In 1767 the number of inhabitants had so increased, that it 
was resolved to erect a house for public worship, and without 
the advantage of regular preaching, the people were accustom- 
ed to assemble on the Sabbath at the heat of drum, and hear a 
sermon read by one of the congregation. They began soon after 
more largely to appreciate the commercial facilities offered by 
the adjacent waters, and fresh efforts were made to improve 
upon the old practice of boat-io haling. For this end small 
sloops were fitted out, and ranged the oce^n at some distance 
from the coast ; but when a whale was caught, it became neces- 
sary to return to port for the purpose of boiling out the oil upon 
the shore. The business had made but little progress when 
hostilities commenced between the mother country and her 
colonies in 1775 ; and this island being the next year abandon- 
ed to the enemy, commerce of every kind was of course sus- 
pended till the close of the contest in 1783. Several British 
ships took their stations in the bay, and this village was made 
not only a depot for military stores, but the garrison for a 
considerable body of soldiers. During the war it became the 
theatre of one of the most extraordinary feats that was accom- 
plished during the revolution. It has generally been denomi- 
nated Meig^s Expedition, and the circumstances are thus re- 
lated by the historians of that period : 

" In retaliation for the burning of Ridgefield in Connecticut, 
by General Arnold and the wretches under his command, in 
April, 1777, a few soldiers from Newhaven went on a predato- 
ry excursion to Long Island. A quantity of provisions had 
been collected at Sagg Harbor, and to destroy these was the ob- 
ject of the expedition. The enterprize was one of the most 
spirited and successful of that eventful period. General Par- 

28 



218 HISTORY OF LONa ISLAND. 

sons conceived it possible to surprise the place, and confided 
the execution of it to Lieutenant-colonel jMoiijs, who embarked 
from Newhaven, May 21, 1777, with two hundred and thirty- 
four men, in thirteen whale-boats. He proceeded to Guilford, 
but on account of the rousjhness of the sea, could not pass the 
Sound till the twenty-third. On that day, at one o'clock in the 
afternoon, he left Guilford with one hundred and seventy men, 
under convoy of two armed sloops, and crossed tbe Sound to 
Southold, where he arrived at six o'clock. The enemy's troops 
on this part of the island had marched for New-Yorlc two or 
three days before, but it was reported that there was a party at 
Sagsj Harbor on the south hranch of the island about fifteen 
miles distant. Colonel Meigs ordered the whale-boats to be 
transported over the land to the bay between the north and south 
branches of the island, where one hundred and thirty men em- 
barked, and at twelve o'clock at night arrived safely on the other 
side of the bay within four miles of Sagg Harbor. Here the 
boats were secured in a wood, under a guard, and the remain- 
der of the detachment marched quickly to the harbor, where 
they arrived at two o'clock in the morning, in the greatest or- 
der, attacking the outpost with fixed bayonets, and proceeding 
directly to the shipping at the wharf, which they found unpre- 
pared for defence. The alarm was given, and an armed 
schooner with twelve guns and seventy men began to fire upon 
them at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards, which con- 
tinued three quarters of an hour, but did not prevent the troops 
from executing their design with the greatest intrepidity and 
effect. Twelve brigs and sloops, one of which was an armed 
vessel of twelve guns and one hundred and twenty tons of hay, 
corn, oats, ten hogsheads of rum, and a large quantity of mer- 
chandize, were entirely destroyed. Six of the enemy were kill- 
ed and ninety taken prisoners. Not one of Colonel Meig's 
men was either killed or wounded. He returned to Guilford 
at two o'clock in the afternoon, having been absent only twenty- 
five hours ; and in that time had transported his troops by land 
and water full ninety miles, and completed his undertaking 
with the most entire success. On the report of this matter to 



I 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 219 

tlie com'nander-iii-c!iief, he addressed the following letter to 
General Parsons : 

"Head-quarters, Middlebrook, May 29th, 1777. Dear Sir. — 
I am just now favored with your letter of the 25th by Major 
Humphrey. The intelligence communicated by it is truly in- 
teresting and agreeable. And now 1 shall take occasion not 
only to give you my hearty approbation of your conduct in 
planning the expedition to Long Island, but to return my sin- 
cere thanks to Lieutenant Col. Mei^s, and all the officers and 
men enga'j^ed m it. This enterprise, so fortunate in the execu- 
tion, will tjn.'atly distress the enemy in the important and essen- 
tial article of forage, and reflects niuch lionor upon those who 
performed it. I shall ever be happy to reward merit when in 
my power, and therefore wish you to inquire for a vacant en- 
signcy in some of the regiments for Sergeant Gennings, to 
which you will promote him, advising me of the same and the 
time. lam, Sir, &-c. G. Washington." 

The result of this expedition was considered of so much con- 
sequence, and so highly deserving of public approbation, that 
congress voted a sword to be presented to Colonel Meigs as a 
token of their sense of the prudence, activity, enterprise and 
valor, with which it had been conducted ; and the commander- 
in-chief published the affair with expressions, of great applause 
in general orders. In the year 1783 the inhabitants of this 
place, who had been for a period of seven years exiled from 
their homes, again returned, and united their energy and skill 
to revive commerce and other branches of business, which had 
been prostrated by the war. Their exertions were attended 
with tolerable success, and they were enabled in a short time 
to witness a limited but prosperous trade, both foreign and 
domestic. 

Althousfh, as has been seen, a Presbyterian church had been 
erected here in 1767, and different preachers had been engaged 
to officiate for stated periods, yet no clergyman was regularly 
settled here previous to 1797 in which year the Rev. Daniel 
Hall from Connecticut was installed as the minister of the pa- 
rish. He continued here till the year 1806, when he removed 
to the church at Shelter Island, where he died in 1812. He 



220 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



was a man of plain and unaffected manners, of a kind and 
amiable disposition, and charitable toward those who chanced 
to differ from him in their opinions. In the month of October, 
1812, the Rev. John D. Gardiner, a native of the county, and 
son of John Gardiner of Moriches, was installed the minister of 
this church. He was educated at Yale College, where he gra- 
duated in 1804. He was settled several years as a clergyman 
in New Jersey before his removal here. He continued in the 
discharge of his parochial duties with zeal and ability, and 
with the approbation of his people, till the month of June, 1832, 
when, anxious for retirement from his arduous labors, he with- 
drew from tlie ministry, and has since enjoyed, in the bosom of 
his family and the private circle of his friends, all the endear- 
ments of domestic and social life, respected and esteemed by the 
community around him. In the year 1817 preparations had 
been made for the erection of a new church, and most of the 
materials had been procured when they were consumed in the 
awful conflagration that involved the destruction of the most 
valuable portion of the village. But by the renewed energies 
of the people, and the individual exertions of Mr. Gardiner, 
means were procured ; and the present large and handsome edi- 
fice was completed on the 18th of June, 1818. The Methodists 
erected a small church here in 1809, which they have since 
disposed of to the Catholics, and erected a new church a few 
years since, which, from its elevated situation and architec- 
tural finish, is an ornament to the village. 

This port was formerly included in the collection district of 
New London ; and in 1771 a commission was given to Nicoll 
Havens of Shelter Island "to inspect the trade and navigation 
of Southold, and the harbors, bays, creeks, and other places in 
the neighborhood thereof, and for the preventing of illicit trade 
within the district of the port of New London." After his death, 
the office was held by Thomas Deering, and which he retained 
until Sagg Harbor became a port of entry, and a new collection 
district was established by congress, subject to the regulations of 
the treasury department of the United States. Since which time 
the collectors have been John Gelston, Henry P. Bering, Tho- 
mas H. Bering, and John P. Osborn. Henry P. Bering re- 



I 



^ 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 221 



ceived his appointment from General Washington in May, 
1790, and held the office till his death, April 30th, 1832. 

The whaling business upon this part of the island has exist- 
ed, in some form or other, for a great length of time, and may be 
said to be almost coeval with the settlement of the country by 
the white people. Both individuals and companies at an early 
period were engaged in liie pursuit of whales alo-ng the south 
shore, in boats built expressly for the purpose, and kept ready 
at convenient stations upon the beach. In the year 1760, 
three sloops, owned by Joseph Conkling, John Foster, and a few 
others, called the Goodluck, Dolphin, and Success, cruised 
for whales in latitude 36'^ north. Whales at that period were 
more abundant along-shore than at present, although some are 
yet taken by boats at East and Southampton almost every year. 
The whales, when secured, were drawn upon the shore, cut in 
pieces, and conveyed a distance to be boiled out. This process 
was so offensive, that the town meeting of Easthampton, in 1690, 
prohibited the practice within a certain distance of any habi- 
tation. In 1785, a vessel owned by Col. Benjamin Hunting 
and Captain Silas Howell, was sent as an experiment to a 
more southern latitude, and by her success laid the foundation 
of a more extensive prosecution of the business. In a short 
time thereafter, the Brig- Lucy, owned by Col. Hunting, 
made the first voyage from this port to the coast of Brazil ; this 
vessel was owned by him as late as 1797. The attempt was 
crowned with success, and served as a stimulus to others. 
Somethmg has also been done in the cod- fishery from this 
place. In the Suffolk Gazette of January 18, 1808, it is stated 
that six thousand six hundred quintals of cod-fish were brought 
in here during the preceding year. But all commercial opera- 
tions were of course suspended during the war of 1812, 1813, 
and 1814. In 1815 the business of whaling was again reviv- 
ed, and has continued to increase gradually in amount and im- 
portance to the present time. The sperm fishery around Cape 
Horn in the Pacific, and around the Cape of Good Hope in the 
Indian Ocean, was not commenced till 1817. In September 
of that year the Argonaut, owned by Silas and Lewis Howell, 
commanded by Eliphalet Halsey, sailed for the Pacific, and re- 



222 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

turned in June, 1819, with seventeen hundred barrels of sperm 
oil. Tiiis business is not only attended with heavy expense, 
but also with no little risk of property and life. One or two 
melancholy instances deserve to be mentioned. The ship Go- 
vernor Clinton sailed from here in August, 1S33, and is suppos- 
ed to have been lost in a typhon, or hurricane, on the coast of 
Japan, in September, 1834. The whole crew, consisting of 
twenty-nine persons, among whom was Samuel Ludlow, cap- 
tain^ Daniel E. Brown, 7nate, Daniel Leek, second mate, 
William D. Schellinger,^/a>o^ mate, Erastus E, Halsey, Charles 
Howell, Sylvester Stanbrough, and Henry Miller, boat steer- 
ers, Benjamin Payne, cooper, Edward P. Jennings, carpen- 
ter, were drowned. Again, the ship Telegraph, belonging to 
S. and N. Howell, commanded by John E. Howell, left here 
for the coast of Chili, in October, 1834 ; and on the 20th cf 
May, 1836, entered Resolution Bay in the island Ohitahoo for 
wood and water. On the succeeding night, the wind from the 
mountain blew with such violence as to sever the ship's cable, 
and drive her out to sea, where she struck upon a reef of rocks, 
and was entirely lost, with twenty-two hundred barrels of oil 
and sperm. The people on board were fortunately saved by 
another vessel. 

Mr. Luther D. Cook of this port, a gentleman of well-known 
intelligence, and extensively connected with this branch of 
commerce, has obligingly furnished us with some statistical 
information, which is deemed of too much importance to be 
omitted. From the statement of this gentleman it appears, 
that in the year 1837 there were twenty-three arrivals and 
twenty-nine departures of whaling-ships from this place ; the 
number of men and boys employed on board exceeding eight 
hundred. In order to appreciate the extraordinary progress 
which has been made in this business, it is only necessary 
to remark that, in 1815 there were only three ships owned liere, 
and that in 1838 the number amounted to twenty-nine ; exhi- 
biting an increase of twenty-six ships in twenty-three years. 
This shows also how much may be accomplished by the ever- 
restless spir.t of enterprise and industry so characteristic of the 
American people ; and is nowhere so extensively displayed as 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 223 

in this department of navigation. While many other places 
possess local advantages not enjoyed here, yet ihe ship owners 
of this port have accomplished more in this expensive and ha- 
zardous business than tiie whole State of New-York besides. 
What may be the experience of the future, can only be conjec- 
tured. On account of the number of vessels, both at Fiome and 
abroad, eny^aged in this species of commerce, it is very doubtiul 
whether the bHsiness will be found as profitable as heretofore. 
Tiie whales are unceasingly pursued (rom one point to another 
over every part of the ocean, rendering them more shy, and are 
consequently taken with far more difficulty than formerly. 
From the immense number which are now annually captured 
compared with previous years, upon the various whalitjg: sta- 
tions, they will probably become scarce ; and from being con- 
stantly harassed, more formidable. Indeed, it now requires all 
the skill of the most practised individuals in managing the boats 
and in throwing the harpoon. These difficulties, together with 
the low price of oil, have rendered some late voyages not only 
profitless, but actually attended with loss. It is calculated by 
Mr. Cook, from the most correct data, that on the I st of January, 
1838, there were not less than five hundred and fifty-three ves- 
sels of different descriptions in the sperm and right whale fish- 
ery from the several ports of the United States. It also ap- 
pears, that from the year 1804 to 1837 there have been 
one hundred and ninety-eight arrivals of whaling vessels 
at this port, producing three hundred and thirty-eight thousand 
six hundred and ninety barrels of oil ; forty thousand five hun- 
dred and four barrels of sperm ; and one million five hundred 
and ninety-six thousand seven hundred and sixty-five pounds 
of whalebone. That in the years 1834 and '35 there were 
seventeen arrivals, amounting in the aggregate to six thousand 
three hundred and sixty-one tons, being an average of three 
hundred and eighteen tons to each vessel. That in 1837 the 
arrivals were twenty-three, producing eight thousand six 
hundred and thirty-four barrels of sperm, thirty-one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-four barrels of oil, and two hundred 
and thirty-six thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven pounds 
of bone. That during the same year the departures were 



224 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

twenty-nine, including one from James-Port, one from Cut- 
chogiie, and two from Green Port, all bound for the south At- 
lantic Ocean. In the year 1838 the tonnage employed in whal- 
ing from this port amounted to eleven thousand seven hun- 
dred, to which, if we add five thousand four hundred and 
thirty-seven of enrolled and licensed tonnage employed in the 
coasting trade, will increase the sum total to seventeen thousand 
one hundred and thirty-seven tons of shipping belonging to 
Sagg Harbor. The orrowth and prosperity of this village has been 
the necessary consequence of tlie extensive capital employed 
in commerce, and the various occupations to which it gives 
rise. The wealth and trade of the place may with propriety 
be said to be founded upon the whaling business, and will 
doubtless keep pace with its increase. The population is now 
about three thousand ; and it contains four hundred dwellings, 
twenty-five dry-good and grocery stores, two drug-stores, two 
watchmakers' shops, two lumber-yards, two sail-makers' shops, 
three fire engines with regularly organized companies, four 
butchers' stalls, a bakery, several hotels and boarding-houses, 
two printing-offices, fourteen coopers'-shops, which manufac- 
ture to the amount of twenty-five thousand barrels of oil casks 
annually, a book-store and circulating library, and a public 
library of more than eight hundred voliimes. The manufac- 
ture of marine salt by solar evaporation was formerly carried 
on to a considerable extent near this village, and in other 
places in the vicinity, but it has not been found recently to yield 
a sufficient profit to warrant its continuance. 

There are sometimes to be found in a country village indi- 
viduals livmg in comparative obscurity, and making no preten- 
ces to any kind of superiority, who nevertheless manifest some 
extraordinary talent, and possess, in reality, accomplishments 
parallel with some whose reputation has been widely difl'used 
in the scientific world. Such an individual may be found 
here in the person of Ephraim N. Byram, a native of this 
village, and a self taught mechanic and astronomer. Indeed, 
his attainments may almost be said to be universal, as there are 
few subjects of science which he has not explored, and in which 
he has not made a very creditable proficiency. He has scarcely 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 225 

ever travelled beyond the limits of the village, and for many 
years has not been a mile from his own shop ; his time and at- 
tention being constantly devoted to mechanical and scientific 
pursuits. He not only invents and executes the most ingenious 
and complicated machines, as clocks, telescopes, and musical 
organs, but even fabricates the implements with which his 
other works are constructed. This gentleman, without any of 
the advantao^es of family, education, or wealth, and struggling 
with a constitution naturally delicate, has obtained a most ex- 
traordinary knowledge of many branches of art and science, 
which might be thought, with a person in his situation, impos- 
sible. Among a variety of other mechanical contrivances, 
planned and executed by himself alone, is a Planetarium^ 
which exhibits the relative situation and movements of the solar 
system more perfectly than has perhaps ever been done before. 
By the most curious and intricate combination of mechanical 
appliances, it is made to represent the position and revolutions 
of the celestial bodies in the most beautiful and harmonious 
order ; and evinces that the mind which could conceive and 
accomplish such an undertaking, must be deeply imbued with 
the elementary principles of astronomy and the physical sci- 
ences. The extreme delicacy and neatness of every part of 
this wonderful production of art are only equalled by the sub- 
lime conceptions with which its author must have been inspired. 
The Hon. Ebenkzer Sage, long a resident of this village, 
was born at Chatham, Connecticut, August 16, 1755, and gra- 
duated at Yale College in 1778. Having qualified himself as 
a physician, he settled, about the year 1790, at Easthampton, 
and soon after married Ruth, daughter of Dr. William Smith 
of Southampton. In 1798 he returned to Connecticut, but 
came back and settled at Sagg Harbor in a short time after, 
where he spent the remainder of his life with great usefulness 
and respectability. He was a cautious and skilful practitioner, 
and a man of much science and literature. He possessed great 
equanimity of temper, and this, with a talent for humor, rendered 
his company and conversation at all times agreeable. He 
was elected to the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth congresses, in 
which he satisfied his political friends. In 1821 he was a delegate 

29 



22G HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

in the convention for amending the constitution of this state. 
He survived his wife several years, and died, esteemed and 
lamented, January 20, 1834. 

The first newspaper printed upon Long- Island was issued in 
this village by David Frolhingham on the 10th of May, 1791. 
It was entitled Lojig- Island Herald, and was transferred, on 
the 2d of .lune, 1802, to Selleck Osborn, and the title was 
clmnged to the SulFolk County Herald. On the 20th of Febru- 
ary, 1804, he relinquished the paper to Alden Spooner, and 
removed to Ijitchfield, where he also published a paper called 
the Witness, and was soon after convicted and imprisoned for 
a political libel, under circumstances which excited much sym- 
pathy among his republican friends. He afterwards published 
a paper in Boston, and in 1823 a volume of original poems. 
He went, a year or two after, to Wilmington, Delaware, where he 
published a paper entitled the ATncrican Watcltinan. His 
death took place at Philadelphia, October 1, 1820. Ho was a 
person of considerable talents ; as a writer, respectable, and as a 
poet, holds a conspicuous rank among the list of American 
bards. 

Mr. Spooner again altered the title of tlie paper to that of the 
SnfoUc Gazette, and whicii he continued to publish till the 
23d of April, ISU, when lie relinquishcu it for the Long 
Island Star, at Brooklyn. 

The next newspaper was the Siijolk County Recorder, com- 
menced in 1S16 by Samuel A. Seabury ; the name of which was 
changed to that of the American Eagle, and was discontinued 
in about two years thereafter. On the 3d of August, 1822, the 
Corrector was established by Henry W. Hunt ; and on the 16th 
of September, 1826, the Republican Watchman, by Samuel 
Phillips ; which two last-named papers continue yet to be pub- 
lished weekly. 

On the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, 
preparations were made to protect this place against the enemy, 
and a small detachment of militia was stationed here, who em- 
ployed themselves in erecting a fortification upon the high 
ground overlooking the harbor. No regular garrison was es- 
tablished, however, till the summer of 1813, when the British 



TOWN OF SOUTtlAMPTOX. 227 

Jjhips, taking their station in Gardiner's Day, threatened to land 
at several points in the vicinity of this port. At that time three 
or four hundred men were placed here, and were continued til 
the end of the war. Some part of the time a company of artil- 
lery, and another of regular troops, were stationed here ; and in 
1814 one or more companies of sea fencibles. But at no time 
was the number of soldiers sufficient to have effectually defend- 
ed the place against the enemy, had the capture of it been 
considered by them an object of sufficient importance to 
have warranted the attempt. It was wholly impossible to have 
prevented their landing at various places bordering upon the 
bay, and they accordingly visited at pleasure Gardiner's Island, 
Montauk, and Oyster Ponds ; taking such provisions as their ne- 
cessities required, and for which, it is believed, they generally 
paid an equivalent. In June, 1813, a launch and two barges, 
with about one hundred men from the squadron of Commodore 
Hardy, attempted to land at the wharf in the night ; but being 
timely discovered, the alarm was sounded, and the guns of the 
fort brought to bear in the direction of the boats ; so successful 
was the means used, that the designs of the enemy were effec- 
tually frustrated. They had only time to set fire to a sloop 
which they took from the wharf, when a shot from the fort 
raked her fore and aft, and obliged them to abandon her. Tho 
Americans going on board, extinguished the flames, when they 
found a quantity of guns, swords, pistols, and other instruments, 
which the invaders, (deeming discretion to be the better part of 
valor,) had left in their hurry to escape. 

On the 26tli of May, 1817, the village was visited by a deso- 
lating fire, that in a brief space laid the most valuable portion 
of it in ruins. It originated in the dense part of the village, 
and the wind blowing a gale, such was the rapidity of the flames, 
that, notwithstanding the utmost exertions of the firemen and 
citizens, many of the best houses and stores, with a great quan- 
tity of merchandize, were consumed. Even goods that had 
been rescued from the buildings on fire, were subsequent- 
ly, by the changing of the wind, burnt in the streets. This 
was, indeed, a terrible calamity, as the inhabitants had but just 
begun to revive from the total prostration of trade by the war. 



228 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

Ships nearly ready for sea were delayed by the destruction of 
the stores destined for their use. The public sympatliy was 
manifested on the occasion, and donations to a considerable ex- 
tent were obtained for the more suffering portion of the popu- 
lation. The event, however, proved that the ambition of the 
people was equal to the emergency ; and the ground swept over 
by the fire, was in a short time covered with buildings more 
convenient and substantial than before, and by which the ap- 
pearance of the village was materially improved. The wharf 
was formerly the property of the state, at whose expense it was 
constructed ; but is now owned by an association of indivi- 
duals, who share the profits arising from the use of it. It reme- 
dies, in some degree, the want of a suflicient depth of water, 
by being extended several hundred feet into the bay. On the 
western part of the village, and within the limits of the corpo- 
ration, is Otter Pond, covering several acres of ground, on which 
wasformerlya mill; and, havitiga communication with the cove 
at the upper part of the bay, is stocked with fish, and furnishes 
fine sport for the angler. 

Hog-Neck is situated in the bay, and within a few hundred 
yards of the village, with which it has lately been connected by 
a handsome bridge, constituting an important link in the route 
across Shelter Island to Green Port. This neck contains seve- 
ral hundred acres of indifi"erent soil, but which its insular situa- 
tion affords facilities for improving, and is thereby rendered 
quite productive. 

Between Canoe-Place and Q,uogue is a small hamlet, denom- 
inated Good Ground, a sort o{ oasis i\\ the desert of sand which 
surrounds it. It has a Methodist church and post-oflice. 
Quogue is a more considerable settlement, about Iburteen miles 
from the village of Southampton, and near the western limits 
of the town. It is much resorted to in the summer for its pure 
air, and the abundance and excellence of the game that is found 
here. It has two good public-houses, and the inhabitants are 
generally farmers. 

Stephen Sayre was born in this town in 1745, where he 
spent a portion of his early \i{e. Few persons were ever more 
conspicuous for personal beauty and accomplishments. He 



I 



TOWN OP SOUTHAMPTON. 229 

was a staunch Whij^ in the revolution, and it is believed that 
his visit to England, in 1775, was as coiifidental agent of go- 
vernment. Such was his prepossessing manners and appearance 
that he soon gained admission into the best society, and was 
upon intimate terms with many leading men in the administra- 
tion there. He connected himself in marriage with an English 
lady of rank, by whom he acquired a handsome fortune. 
Having entered into financial and commercial business, his ac- 
quaintance became extensive, and this, added to his very popu- 
hir manners, caused him to be chosen high sheriff of the city 
of London. By his advocacy of the American cause, and his 
open opposition to the arbitrary measures of the administra- 
tion, he drew down upon himself the displeasure of govern- 
ment, which led to his arrest upon a charge of treason, and 
for which he was most unceremoniously thrown into the Tow- 
er. The following particulars of this affair are found in the 
London Public Ledger of October 25, 1776 : — " Between the 
hours of nine and ten on Monday morning, Mr. Slavely, of 
Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, and Mr. Mann of Queen Ann 
Street, Westminster, (king's messengers,) attended by a con- 
stable, repaired to the house of Stephen Sayre, Esquire, in 
Oxford Street. As an excuse to obtain an interview with him, 
they pretended a forged draft for £200 had been issued by the 
bank; of which Mr. Sayre is a proprietor. He no sooner ap- 
peared, than they acquainted him that they had an order, sign- 
ed by Lord Rochford, one of the secretaries of state, to take 
him into custody on a charge of high treason ; and to search 
for, take and carry with them, such of his papers as they might 
deem effectual for their purposes. Mr. Sayre heard the sum- 
mons with composure, and obeyed its dictates with manly dig- 
nity ; conscious of his innocence, he smiled at the malignity of 
the charge, and in perfect reliance upon his own integrity, per- 
mitted the officers to search his tables and rifle his bureau. 
They conducted him to Lord Rochford, where they also found Sir 
John Fielding. The charge in the information was, that Mr. 
Sayre had expressed an intention of seizing the king''s per- 
son as he went to the parliament house, and of taking pos- 
session of the Tower, 6cc. The advice of Mr. Sayre's counsel 



230 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

was, that he should not answer any interrogations which Lord 
Rochford or Sir John Fielding might put, nor sign any paper 
whatever. Mr. Sayre was then ordered into an adjoining 
apartment, and afterwards committed a close prisoner to the 
Tower. On the 14th of December, 1776, he appeared at the 
Old Bailey, and his counsel, Mr. Arthur Lee, moved to dis- 
charge the recognizance entered into on the 28th of October 
last, on Mr. Say re's being brought before Lord Mansfield upon 
a writ of habeas corpus. Mr. Baron Burland, who, with the 
Lord Mayor, presided at the court, accordingly discharged the 
recognizance ; and Mr. Sayre immediately gave orders to com- 
mence actions against Lord Rochford, the under secretaries of 
state, and the king's messengers." In Gorden's History of the 
Revolution, it is stated that " in 1775 many suspicions were en- 
tertained of combinations in favor of America, and upon cer- 
tain hints thrown out, Mr. Sayre. an American, and a banker 
in London, was secured ; and being examined before the secre- 
tary of state, Lord Rochford, and confronted by his accuser, 
was committed to the Tower for high treason, on the ridiculous 
charge of designing to seize his Majesty at noon-day in his 
passage to the house of peers, of conveying him a prisoner to 
the Tower, and afterwards out of the kingdom, and of overturn- 
ing the whole form of government, by bribing a few sergeants 
of the guards." Mr. Sayre remained may years after in Lon- 
don, engaged in speculation and commerce ; and on his return 
to America, settled upon a plantation which he had purchased 
upon the Delaware, near Bordentown, New Jersey, and where 
he spent the remainder of his days. The estate of Mr. Sayre 
is said to be now owned by Joseph Bonaparte, ex-Emperor of 
Spain ; and upon which he has erected a splendid and expen- 
sive private establishment. 

In the History of the Arts of Design in the United States, 
lately published by William Dunlap, Esquire, honorable men- 
tion is made of another gentleman,',also a native of this town ; 
and which, with a few trifling corrections that our acquaint- 
ance with this person enables us to make, we take the liberty 
to introduce in this place. 

Nathaniel Rogers was born at Bridgehampton in 1778. 



\ 



TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON. 231 

His father, John T. Rogers, was a respectable farmer of that 
place ; and tlie subject of this notice has the honor of springing 
from the same class of citizens that gave birth to West, Wright, 
Vanderlyn, Fisher, JMount, and a long list of American artists, 
the yeomanry of the country. His mother was a daughter of 
the Rev. James Brown, minister of the parish for near fifty 
years, and grand-daughter of the Rev. Mr. Prime, former mi- 
nister of Huntington. The father of Mr. Rogers, although the 
owner of a good farm, well knew it would not answer to divide 
it into four parts ; and therefore, after giving his sons a good 
education, two of them chose a mercantile, and the other a 
mechanical employment. Nathaniel was put apprentice to a 
ship-builder at Hudson, where he served his master as clerk 
also ; for he says of himself, that his business was " to keep the 
accounts, pai/ off the workmen, and serve out the grog." 
Much of the time he was employed in drafting and making 
models, at which he exhibited very considerable ingenuity and 
skill. In about a year after he was wounded by a severe cut 
in the knee, which disabled him from labor, and rendered him 
no longer serviceable to his employer. He was accordingly 
dismissed from his indentures, and returned to his parents' 
house, where he received, of course, every attention that his 
unfortunate condition required. This accident has sometimes 
been playfully mentioned by his friends as the most fortunate 
cut he ever made. But it may with propriety be supposed, 
that a due exercise of the same energies in the business origin- 
ally intended, might have procured results equally advantage- 
ous, although of less consequence in public estimation. 

Having a taste for drawing, he had now sufficient leisure 
and opportunity of indulging in the perusal of such books as 
were calculated to impart information in his favorite depart- 
ment. He began also to copy prints, and even made some 
slight essays at designing. His physician. Dr. Samuel H. Rose, 
possessed a mind, education, and taste, that might in some situ- 
ations have gained him high praise, and was, as all who knew 
him can testify, a person of much goodness of heart. And 
seeing and sympathizing with the suffering boy, he sought to 
amuse him, and at the same time to encourage his wishes, by 



232 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

presenting him a few pencils and a box of colors. The 
young invalid felt fresh inspiration at this unexpected good 
fortune, and soon set about attempting the portraits of some of 
his more intimate acquaintance. Although, as might be ex- 
pected, they were very imperfect peribrmances, yet to them 
they appeared as wonderful likenesses. Going, soon after, to 
New- York, he procured an introduction to Mr. Howell, an 
artist, and a native of Long Island, by whom he was encourag- 
ed and instructed. Mr. Howell, however, died not long after, 
of consumption. Rogers now determined within himself to be 
a painter, but his more prudent father considered it a precarious 
undertaking, and one in which to obtain mediocrity only, would 
be equal to a failure. He therefore urged his son to fit himself 
for one of the learned professions, frankly offering to furnish 
the means. To this urgent request he agreed, and was accord- 
ingly placed at school preparatory to entering upon the study of a 
profession. But his strong passion for the fine arts still haunted 
his imagination, and portraits and pictures flitted occasion- 
ally across his fancy, disturbing the regular course of thought. 
On a visit which he made about this time to some friends at 
Say brook, he fairly commenced the business of a portrait paint- 
er, and drew some tolerable likenesses of several of his ac- 
quaintance. His kind-hearted parent now believing that he 
saw moresolidevidencesof his son's ability to distinguish him- 
self in the art, gave consent for him to begin a course of study ; 
and immediate arrangements were made with Mr. Wood (at 
this period successfully prosecuting the business of a painter in 
New- York). For this kind instructor Rogers has ever entertained 
feelings of gratitude and personal kindness ; and when he fell 
into adversity, was both able and willing to administer to his 
relief, and to the sincere gratification of both. The young as- 
pirant now set up for himself, and soon found employment ; so 
that he was shortly after able to transmit a few bank notes to 
his father, with a special request that he would invest them for 
him to the best advantage. The old gentleman's doubts of his 
son's ultimate success, if any he had at this time, were complete- 
ly dispelled, and his former anxiety on his accoimt most agree- 
ably relieved. Wood soon after removed to Philadelphia, and 



TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND. 233 

left the field open to Rogers. His business increased, and his 
reputation as a painter continued to advance until he obtained 
the first rank in miniature painting. His incessant application 
to business at one time threatened his health, but by timely re- 
laxation and proper care he has been restored. He married in 
1818 Caroline Matilda, daughter of Captain Samuel Denison 
of Sagg Harbor, and has several children whom he has educated, 
having saved a competent independence from his profession. 
He is a member of the National Academy, and no longer pur- 
sues his business, except as an occasional amusement. His 
character and conduct through life are worthy the imitation of 
the generation of young artists who aspire either to fame or 
fortune. 

TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND, 

Is situated between the north and south branches of Long 
Island, at the eastern extremity of Peconic Bay, bounded by its 
waters on the north, west, and south, and by Gardiner's Bay on 
the east. The island is about six miles long, and four broad 
in the widest part ; containing about eight thousand acres, divi- 
ded into several farms. The number of families is seventy, 
and the inhabitants about three hundred. The surface is in 
general undulating, and covered in part by oak and other tim- 
ber. The soil is of a good quality, and in general well culti- 
vated. There are some ponds of fresh water, and one upon 
the southerly side of the island covering about thirty acres of 
ground. Peat is found in considerable quantity, but has hi- 
therto been little used. The shores are indented by coves and 
small bays, and their edges abound with salt grass. There are 
many beautiful sites for building, and the prospect from many 
points is various and picturesque. The Indian name of this 
island is Manhansack-aha-qiishu-ioamock, meaning, an island 
sheltered hy islands. It was the residence of the Manhasset 
tribe, and the place where the sachem lived is still called 
" Sachem's Neck." In the power of attorney executed by 
William Alexander, earl of Stirling, to James Farret, authoriz- 
ing him to dispose of Long Island, he was at liberty to select 

'30 



234 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

for his own use twelve thousand acres, in consequence of which 
he made choice of this and Robins' Island in Peconic Bay, both 
of which, on the ISth of May, 1641, he sold to Stephen Good- 
year of New-Haven, who, on the 9th of June, 1651, conveyed 
the same to Thomas Middleton, Thomas Rouse, Constant Syl- 
vester, and Nathaniel Sylvester, for sixteen Jumdred weight 
of good ■merchantable Muscovado sngar. The grantees pro- 
cured an immediate confirmation of the title from Yokee, the 
Manhasset Sachem, and his chief men, and who covenanted 
and agreed at the same time to jnit aivay all their dogs ; and 
in case any damage was done to the purchasers by them, to 
make a proper satisfaction for the same forthwith. 

Rouse conveyed his quarter part of the island to John Booth, 
who, on the 8th of May, 1656, transferred his interest to Na- 
thaniel Sylvester. The latter, on the 12th of September, 1662, 
sold a portion to his brother, Constant Sylvester. The English 
having, two years after, made the conquest of New- York, this 
island came of course under the jurisdiction of the colonial go- 
vernment ; and on the 31st of May, 1666, a patent of confirma- 
tion of the purchase from the agent of Lord Stirling, was grant- 
ed by Governor Nicolls to the then owners. Constant and Na- 
thaniel Sylvester, their heirs and assigns ; they yielding and 
paying annually thereafter, on the 1st day of May, one lamb, 
as an acknowledgment to the Duke of York. On the re-cap- 
ture of New-York by the Dutch in 1673, Governor Colve, by 
a formal act of the 28th of April, 1674, confiscated the rights, 
whatever they might be, of Thomas Middleton and Constant 
Sylvester as public enemies ; and sold the same, on the 28th of 
August following, to the said Nathaniel Sylvesterfor fivehnndred 
pounds, taking his bond for the same, in consequence of which he 
became sole owner of the island. When the country was about 
to be restored to the English by treaty, and the governor ex- 
pected soon to leave New- York, he concluded to secure the 
money due upon the bond ; and accordingly despatched a vessel 
and about fifty soldiers to the island, and by means of threats 
and intimidation compelled Mr. Sylvester to pay it, which 
they carried off. 

Nathaniel Sylvester had five sons, Giles, Nathaniel, Con- 



TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND. 235 

Stunt, Pete)', and Benja?7im ; all of whom succeeded to the 
ownership of the island, as tenants in common in equal parts. 
Nathaniel afterwards sold his interest to the Havens' family, 
and settled at Rhode Islatid, where he died, leaving a son by the 
name of Brinley Sylvester. Peter and Benjamin conveyed to 
their brother Giles, and who, dying without issue, devised his 
estate to William NicoUs of Islip, and the same is now possess- 
ed by the children of the late Samuel B. Nicolls. Brinley 
Sylvester having acquired title to a portion of the island, part- 
ly by purchase, and partly by devise from his relations, remov- 
ed here in L737, and erected the large mansion-house of the 
late General Dering, now the property of Samuel S. Gardiner, 
Esq. Brinley Sylvester died here, December 24th, 1752 ; and the 
property descended to his daughter, who intermarried with 
Thomas Dering, an eminent merchant of Boston, who conse- 
quently removed to this island, where he died, leaving the pro- 
perty to his two sons, Sylvester and Henry P. Dering. The first- 
named, better known as General Dering, married a daughter of 
Nicoll Havens, and who still survives her husband. The follow- 
ing is a copy of the inscription upon the tomb of General Dering : 

" Sacred to the memory nf General Sylvester Dering, who departed 
this life, October 8th, 1820, aged sixty-one. He united a sound and 
, active mind with ardent and exemplary piety. He lived not for 
himself, but for the community around him. He was a kind coun- 
cillor and faithful friend. The prevailing disposition of his heart 
was sympathy for the distressed, and corresponding efforts for their 
relief For a long course of years he held various offices in church 
and state, and died lamented and beloved." 

Henry P. Dering married Miss Fosdick of New London, and 
died April 30th, 1832, leaving a widow and several children. 
He was born here July 3d, 1763, and removed to Sagg Harbor, 
where he held, for a great number of years, the offices of post, 
master and collector of the customs for that port, and until 
the time of his death. Few men had a more extensive ac- 
quaintance, or obtained and enjoyed through life a more envi- 
able share of public confidence and esteem. 

The Hon. Jonathan N. Havens was the son of Nicoll Ha- 
vens, and born here in 1758. He graduated at Yale College 
in 1777. In 1786 he was elected to the assembly of this 



236 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



State, and continued in that body many years. He was a 
member of the convention that adopted the constitution of the 
United States in 1778. He was a representative in the fifth 
congress, and remained in that body till his death in 1799, 
The character of this distinguished man is briefly summed up 
in the following inscription upon his tomb : 

"Erected to the memory of Jonathan NicoU Havens, Esq., repre- 
sentative in tlie Congress of the United States. He vifus esteemed 
by a numerous acquaintance, as a man of superior talents and eru- 
dition; a philosopher, statesman, and patriot ; and died, greatly la- 
mented, October 25, 1799, in the forty-second year of his age." 

The following epitaphs are copied from head-stones in the 
Shelter Island burial-ground, and are remarkablefor the singular 
contrast they exhibit, in the last solemn act of the deceased : 

" In Memory of " In Memonj of 

Benjamin Conkling, who died Feb- Shadrach Conkling, who died Jan- 

ruary 21, 1826, aged eighty-two. It is uary 23d, 1827, aged eighty-eight, 

but justice to the character of Mr. Conk- Mr. Conkling possessed a sound mind 

ling to say that he was an obliging and excellent understanding, and was a 

neighbor; in his habits industrious, firm patriot, a good neighbor, charitable 

in his dealings honest. He liberally and strictly moral. He owned, at the 

aided the cause of virtue and religion, time of his decease, a large estate, which 

and in his last moments bequeathed a he bequeathed to his relations, who 

large proportion of his property to the were all very poor, and among whom 

Presbyterian church and congregation were seven orphan children. Posterity 

of Shelter Island, for the support of the will decide upon the wisdom manifested 

gospel." ill the disposition of the estates of these 

two brothers." 

By some conventional agreement in former times between the 
proprietors of this island and the people of Southold, the con- 
cerns of the island, so far as they were of a public nature, were 
transacted in the town-meetings held at Southold. This suffi- 
ciently appears from inspecting the records of that town, and 
accounts for the circumstance of there being no town records 
previous to the year 1730, when the first town-meeting was 
held, and an entry made thereof in the following words : 

^ At a town meeting held this 
day, — William Nicolls was 
chosen supervisor ; John Ha- 
{ vens and Samuel Hudson, 
assessors ; Edward Havens, 
collector; and Edward Gil- 
man, clerk." 



" Precinct of Shelter Island, 
April 7, 1730. 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 237 

The male inhabitants of the town at this time, of full age, 
were as follows : 

William Nicolls, Edward Havens, Noah Tuthill, 

John Havens, Samuel Vail, Sylvester L'Hommedieu, 

Samuel Hudson, Thomas Conkling, Henry Havens, 

George Havens, Edward Gilman, Samuel Hopkins, 

Elisha Payne, Brinley Sylvester, John Bowditch, 

Joel Bowditch, Jonathan Havens, Daniel Brown. 

Abraham Parker, Joseph Havens, 

The first church was erected by the Presbyterians in 1733, 
the funds for defraying Ihe expense of which, were collected 
upon the island and the adjacent towns. It was taken down 
in 1816, when the present church was erected upon the same 
spot. They have had a settled clergyman here for short periods 
only, and at long intervals. 

During the revolution this island was stripped of its wood 
for the use of the British army and navy ; and great injury 
was committed upon the property of the inhabitants, most of 
whom, if not all, were decided and active Whigs, and of course 
had no reason to expect any favor or indulgence from the public 
enemy. The growth of timber is, however, very rapid, and 
vast quantities have since been disposed of by the owners. 
Few tracts of land are better adapted for farming purposes, and 
especially for the raising of stock and gram. Ram Island (so 
called) lies upon the north-east side of Shelter Island, and is 
now connected with it by a narrow strand of alluvial formation. 
It is owned by Mr. Thomas Tuthill, and contains about four 
hundred acres of moderately good land. The surface is rough, 
and has generally been appropriated for the pasturing of sheep, 
a business heretofore found very profitable. An act for the es- 
tablishment of a ferry between this town and Southold has been 
passed, and, when carried into effect, will facilitate and increase 
the travel from one branch of Long Island to the other. 

TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 

This town occupies the north branch of Long Island, and 
includes the peninsula of Oyster Ponds, Plumb Island, the two 
Gull Islands, and Fisher's Island in the Sound, and Robin's 



23S HIvSTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Island in Peconic Bay. It is bounded west by Riverhead, 
north and east by the Sound, and south by the bay which 
separates this town from Southanij)ton and SheUer Island. Its 
length, from the west bounds to Oyster Ponds Point, is abont 
twenty-three miles, and its greatest breadth four miles. The 
Indian name of this town is Yennccock, and was purchased 
from the Corchougs, a tribe that possessed this part of the is- 
land, in the summer of 1040. JMost of the first planters were 
originally from Ilingham, in Norfolk, England : and came here 
by the way of New-Haven. The Rev. John Youngs, who had 
been a preacher in England, was tlieir leader. lie organized 
a church at New-Tlaven, and they, with others willing to ac- 
company them, commenced the settlement of this town. The 
principal men among them besides Mr. Youngs, were William 
Wells, Barnabas Horton, Thomas Mapes, John Tuthill, and 
Matthias Corwin. The governor of New-Haven, Theophilus 
Eaton, and the authorities there, had not only aided the first 
settlers in their negotiations about tlie purchase of the soil, but 
actually took the conveyance in their own names, and exercised 
a limited control over the territory for several years, which 
eventually occasioned some dissatistaction among the inha- 
bitants. The civil and ecclesiastical concerns oi' the settlement 
were conducted in a similar maimer with the other plantations 
under the jurisdiction of New-Haven. All government was re- 
puted to be in the church, and none were admitted to the entire 
privileges of freedom, or free burgesses as they were called, ex- 
cept churGli members ; a court was in like manner instituted, 
which was authorized to hear and determine all causes, civil and 
criminal, and whose decisions were to be according to the laws 
of God as contained in the holy scriptures. In the general 
court (or town meeting), consisting also of church members, 
was transacted the ordinary business of the plantation. In these, 
orders were made in relation to the division of lands, tlie en- 
closure or cultivation of common fields, the regulation of 
fences, highways, and the time and manner of permitting cat- 
tle and sheep to go at large upon the common lands ; and such 
further measures as were required for the mutual defence of 
the settlement from hostile attacks on every side. One of the 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 239 

first ordinances required every man to provide himself with 
arms and ammunition, and to assemble at an appointed place, 
whenever warned so to do, under a certain penalty t'oi neglect 
in any of these respects. The plantation made early provision 
for tho education of children, the preservation of good morals, 
and the support of religion. A committee was appointed to 
regulate the admission of new settlers, and no one could be- 
come an inhabitant without their approbation ; and no planter 
could sell or let his house or land to a stranger, but only to 
such as were approved by the said committee, under a heavy 
penalty. The plantation found it not only difficult, but at- 
tended with great and serious embarrassment, to enforce rigidly 
the rule of the jurisdiction excluding all but church members 
from voting at elections ; and having in this respect infringed 
upon its severity, the jurisdiction of New-Haven, in 1G48, sent 
over a delegation of their principal men to consult upon the 
necessity and importance of keeping the government in the 
hands of " God^s Elecl.^' The consequence was, that the town 
agreed, in future, to conform faithfully to tfie laws of tfie juris- 
diction in this respect. The law here referred to, was that 
adopted in the year 1643, which, being somewhat curious, is 
here presented to the reader : 

" At a General Court, held at New-Haven for the Jurisdiction, the 27th of 
October, 1643. 

Prbsent. 
Magistrates. Deputies. 

Theophilus Eaton, Governor. ^ George Lamberton ) „_ jj jj 

Stephen Goodyear, Deputy. / H. H. Nathaniel Turner ) 

Thomus Grcgson. ) *'^'^''" ■^'^'^^^°°'^ J rjr Milford 

Willjam Fowler. ) John Sherman J 

Edmund Tapp. $ ^' William Leete ) pr Guilford. 

Thurston Raynor, S. Samuel Disbrough J 

Thomas Fugill, Sec. j j^ ^ Richard Gildersieve ) ^^ Stamford. 

Tho. Kimberly, Marshall. 5 John Whitmore. S 

I. It was agreed and concluded, as a fundamental order not to be disputed or 
questioned hereafter, thatt none shall be admitted to be free Burgesses in any of 
the Plantations within this Jurisdiction for the future, but such Planters as are 
members of some or other of the approved Churches in New England; nor shall 
any but such free Burgesses have any vote in any Election (the six present free- 
men att Milforde enjoying the Liberty with the Cautions agreed.) Nor shall 
any power or trust in the ordering of any Civill Affayres be att any time put into 
the hands of any other than such Church members ; though as free Planters all 



240 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

have right to their Inheritance and to commerce, according to such Grants, 
Orders, and Lawes as shall be made concerning the same. 

II. AH such free Burgesses shall have power in each Town ande Plantation 
within this Jurisdiction to chuse fitt and able men from amongst themselves 
(being Church members as expressed before) to be the Ordinary Judges to heare 
and determine all inferiour Causes, wthA'. Civil! or Criminal; provided thatt no 
Civill Cause to be tryed in any of the Plantation Courts in value exceed 20s. 
ande that the punishment of such Criminals according to the minde of God re- 
vealed in his word touching such offences doe not exceed Stocking and Whip- 
ping, or if the fine be pecuniary thatt it exceed not five pounds, in wch. Court the 
magistrate or magistrates, if any be chosen by the free Burgesses of the Jurisdic- 
tion for thatt Plantation, shall sitt and assist with due respect to their place, ande 
sentence shall pass according to the vote of the major parte of each such Courte, 
onely if the partyes or any of them be nott satisfyed wth. the Justice of such 
sentences or Executions, appeals or complaynls may be made from ande agaynst 
these Courts to the Courts of Magistrates for the whole Jurisdiction. 

III. All free Burgesses in the Jurisdiction shall have a vote in the Election of 
Magistrates, whether Governour, Deputy Governour or other Magistrates, with 
a vote for Treasurer, Secretary and Marshall, &c. for tlie Jurisdiction, and for 
the case of such Burgesses, ande especially in remote plantations they may vote 
by proxi by sending in their votes, which votes shall be sealed in the presence of 
the free Burgesses, and the free Burgesses may chuse for each plantation as many 
Magistrates as the situation of Affayres may require, and no plantation shall be 
left destitute of Magistrates if they desire one chosen out of those in church fel- 
lowship with them. 

IV. All the Magistrates for the whole Jurisdiction shall meete twice a yeare 
att New-Haven on the Monday immediately before the sitting of the two fixed 
General Courts hereafter mentioned, to keep a court called a court of Magistracy 
for the tryall of weighty ande capitall causes, whether civill or criminall, above 
those submitted to the ordinary judges in the particular plantations, and to receive 
and try appeals brought to them from the Plantation courts, and to call the inha- 
bitants, whether free Burgesses, free Planters or others, to account for the breach 
of any laws established, and for other misdemeanours, and to censure them ac- 
cording to their offence. Less than four Magistrates shall nott compose a court ; 
but it is required and expected all the Magistrates to attendeof the Jurisdiction. 
If not present, they shall be liable to a fine of 20s. unless excused on account of 
God's Providence preventing. Appeals and complaints can be made from this to 
the General Court as the last resort. Besides the Plantation Courts ande the 
Court of Magistrates, there shall be a general court for the jurisdiction, which 
shall consist of the Governour and all the Magistrates within tlie Jurisdiction , 
and two deputies for every plantation in the Jurisdiction to be chosen previously. 
This court shall sit at New-Haven twice every year, viz, on the first Wednesday 
of April and the last Wednesday in October, at the last of which the officers for 
the ensuing year shall be chosen. The Governour, or in his absence, the Deputy 
Governour, shall have power to summon a General Court at any other time, and 
no one belonging to the court shall be absent on penalty of 20s. fine. 

V. The court shall, with all care and dilligence, provide for the maintainance of 
the purity of Religion, and suppress the contrary, according to their best light 
from the word of God, and by the advice of the Elders and churches in the juris- 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 241 

diction so far as it might concern the civill power. 2d. This court shall have 
power to make and repeal lawes, and to require their execution while in force in all 
the several plantations. 3d. To impose an oath upon all the Magistrates, to caii 
them to account for breach of Lawes, and to censure them according to offence; 
to settle and levie rates and contribution of the Plantations for the public service, 
and to heare and determine causes, whetlier civill or criminall ; they to proceed 
according to the Scripiui'es, which is the rule of all righteous lawes and sentences. 
Nothing shall pass as an act without the consent of the majority of the magis- 
trates and of the majority of the Deputies. In the Generall Court shall be and 
reside the supreme power of the Jurisdiction." 

The difficulties and discontents that arose from the control 
which the colony of New-Haven claimed to exercise over the 
lands of this town, made it necessary, at a subsequent period, to 
send over agents from time to time to negotiate upon the sub- 
ject ; and, in consequence of which, the following proceeding 
took place at New-Haven in 1649 : 

" At a General Court held at New- Haven for the Jurisdiction, the 30th May, 
1649. The ffreemen of Southold desired that the purchase of their plantation 
might be made over to them. The court told them that they are ffree to make 
over to them what right they have, either by a deed or by an act in court, that it 
might stand upon, to ffree them from all future claymes from themselves, or any 
under them, as themselves upon due consideration shall propound or desire. Mr. 
Wells being questioned about some land he had received of some Indians in 
Long Island by way of gift, in which Mr. Odell of Southampton hath a part, 
and himselfdid draw a deed, wherein the land was passed over from the Indians 
to them, which is contrary to an order made in this Jurisdiction. Against 
which carriage the court shewed their dislike. But Mr. Wells doth now before 
the court fully resign up all his interest in that land to the jurisdiction, and will 
be ready to give a deed to declare it when it shall be demanded of him. Mr. 
Youngs informed the court that they at Southold had, according to order, pur- 
chased a plantation westward from tiie Southold, abouteight miles, of the Indians, 
which, by the best information they can get, are known to be the right owners of 
that land, called by the name ofMattatuck and Aqiiabouke, and this for the juris- 
diction of New-Haven and Connecticut; which puxxhase comes to in the whole 
six pounds six shillings ; the particulars how it arises, being expressed in the 
deed, which they desired might b« repayd ; and accordingly the Treasurer had 
an order from the court, and did pay it to them. Likewise Lieutenant Budd 
epoke of another purchase that was made, but did not give full information nor a 
perfect account thereof." 

" At a general court held at New-Haven for the jurisdiction, 
the 2d of May, 1658, the deputies of Southold propounded the 
desire of their town to re purchase of the jurisdiction a parcel 
of land called Mattatuck and Aqiiabouke^ which the court con- 
sidering, by vote declared that the paying seven pounds, iii 
good pay, the said land is theifs, which was accepted by the 

31 



242 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

deputies." And as^ain : " At a general court of the same juris- 
diction, held the 25th of May, 1659, Mr. Wakeman acknow- 
ledged seven pounds received from the deputies of Southold for 
the land re-purchased by them, called Mattatuck and Aquabouke^ 
but being j}aid in wampum^ Mr. Wells undertook to answer 
the damage that he should sustain by it." 

Immediately after the reception of the charter granted by 
Charles II. to Connecticut, in 1662, and with which New-Ha- 
ven was now associated, they claimed a complete civil juris- 
diction over the English towns upon this island ; and the gen- 
eral court at Hartford took upon themselves the appointing of 
all officers in the said towns, not permitted by the charter to be 
chosen by the people ; and to make this exercise of authority 
the more acceptable, the towns were empowered to elect de- 
puties to represent them in the general court. This union 
with that colony continued till the conquest in 1664, when it 
was reluctantly abandoned, but was hastily renewed on the re- 
capture of New-York by the Dutch in 1673. The Dutch go- 
vernor undertook to reduce them to obedience, but by the in- 
terference of Connecticut it was prevented ; and at the restora- 
tion of New-York in 1674, several towns were found attached 
to Connecticut, and which they were most anxious to continue. 
They sent deputies over to solicit their co-operation, and on 
the 13th of June, 1674, this town, in conjunction with South 
and Easthampton, agreed to petition the king for permission to 
remain under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. But Sir Ed- 
m^\nd Andross, the new governor, took effective measures to 
oblige them to submit to his authority. 

In the year 1549 the Indians in the vicinity, who had been 
heretofore friendly, exhibited a hostile disposition, committed 
many outrages against this town and Southampton, and even 
perpetrated one or more murders. It was therefore resolved to 
keep watch and ward, and to apply to New-Haven for assist- 
ance and protection. They were again troublesome in 1657; 
but no considerable combination seems to have been entered 
into, to interrupt the peace of the settlement. 

The individual commissioned by the Governor in 1674 to 
demand the return of the town to his authority, was Silvester 



" TOWN OP SOUTHOLD. 243 

Salisbury, afterwards high sheriff of Yorkshire. On his arri- 
val here, he addressed the following notice to the inhabitants 
of the town, whom he caused, to be assembled for the purpose : 

" December 10, 1674. Qenilemen — Know yee, that I am empowered by ye Hon- 
oured Governor of New- York, to receive the return of this place into the coUony 
of New-Yorke, and the government thereof, pursuant to his Majesty's royall 
graints to his Royall Highnesse ye Duke of Yorke. Whreupon I doe declare 
to all, that I doe receive and accept of ye return and surrender of this place from 
under ye coUony of Connecticut, by whose protection they have been secured 
from ye Dutch invasion, unto the obedience of his Royall Highnesse, As wit- 
ness my hand at Southold the day and year above sayd. 

" Silvester Salisbury." 

The charter of Connecticut before mentioned was similar in 
many of its provisions to the constitution which the people of 
the province had previously formed for themselves in 1639, 
before their arrival in the town ; and was therefore little more 
than a development of the same general principles. 
.% It was the liberal spirit of this charter, and the protection it 
aiforded to civil and religious liberty, which increased the anx- 
iety of the eastern towns to preserve their union with Connec- 
ticut. And although Long Island was not expressly named in 
the charter as a part of the territory included within the juris- 
diction of that province, yet the names of some of the magis- 
trates of Southold were inserted among those appointed to ad- 
minister the government. This circumstance, in addition to a 
clause in the charter annexing the " islands adjacent" to Con- 
necticut, furnished a very plausible pretext for claiming the 
jurisdiction over Long Island. It was probably by the con- 
sent, if not at the instance of Southold and of South and East- 
hampton, that Connecticut set up a construction of her charter, 
which, if it could have been maintained, would have embraced 
all the English towns, and consequently all the other towns af- 
ter the conquest. The following proceedings at Hartford re- 
late to this matter : 

"At a general court held at Hartford, the 12th of May, 1664, 
it is declared that they claim Long Island as one of the ' adja- 
cent islands' expressed in the charter, except a precedent right 
doth appear, approved by his Majesty." And afterwards again, 
on the 17th of November, 1674, the inhabitants of Southold 
being legally convened in town meeting, they resolved as fol- 



244 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

lows : " We doe unanimously declare and owne that we are at 
this present time under the government of his Majesty's colony 
of Connecticut, and are desirous so to continue." And on the 
arrival of Governor Andross, and after being reluctantly obliged 
to submit to his authority, they refused for some time to apply 
for or accept a patent of confirmation for their lands. Nor did 
they in fact acquiesce until his Excellency threatened to dis- 
franchise them, and to treat them as enemies, contumaciously 
refusing to acknowledge the authority of their lawful sovereign. 
Upon this they consented to receive a patent, and one was ac- 
cordingly issued on the 31st day of October, 1676, in which 
the following persons were named as patentees, to wit : Isaac 
Arnold, justice of the peace; Captain John Youngs, Joshua Hor-^ 
ton, constable, and Barnabas Horton, Benjamin Youngs, Samuel 
Glover, and Jacob Corey, overseers of the poor, for and on behalf 
of themselves and their associates, the freeholders and inhabitants 
of said town. The lands included in the patent are described as 
" bounded on the west to a certain river or creek called the 
Wading Creek, in the Indian tongue Paiiquacumsuck, and to 
the eastward by Plum-Gut, together with the islands thereto 
belonging; on the north side with the Sound or North Sea; 
and on the south with an arm of the sea or river which runneth 
up between Southampton land unto a certain creek which 
fresh water runneth into, called in English the Red-Creek, by 
the Indians To- Yongs ; together with the said creek and mea- 
dows belonging therewith, so running on a straight line from the 
head of the afore-mentioned fresh water, to the head of the small 
brook that runneth into the creek called Pauquacumsuck^ in- 
cluding all the necks of land and islands within the aforesaid 
described bounds and limits." On the 27th of December next 
following, the patentees by deed, which is duly recorded, re- 
leased to the town the interest acquired by the patent. 

Rohhi's Island, is situated in Peconic Bay, nearly opposite 
the village of Mattetuck ; and contains four hundred acres of 
land, much of which is covered with timber, and the remain- 
der used for pasture and cultivation. This island was a part 
of the lands made choice of by the agent of Lord Stirling for 
his own use, and was conveyed, with Shelter Island, to Thomas 



TOWN OP SOUTHOLD. 245 

Goodyeare, in the year 1641. In the American revolution it 
was a part of the estate of Major Parker Wickham, which by 
his attainder was confiscated, and was afterwards purchased of 
the commissioners of forfeitures by the late Mr. L'Hommedieu, 
by whose executors it was conveyed to the present owners. 
More than twenty thousand dollars' worth of wood has been 
sold off within a few years. 

The peninsula of Oyster-Ponds is the eastern extremity of 
the main island, upon the north branch thereof ; and connected 
with it by a narrow sand beach, evidently formed by the action of 
the sea. Oyster-Ponds is about five miles long and one broad, 
and is perfectly level, with the exception of a chain of small 
hills adjoining the Sound. The soil is not surpassed by any 
upon Long Island, and is equally well cultivated. It is divid- 
ed into several fine farms, upon which are raised very superior 
crops of hay and grain. A very considerable quantity of ex- 
cellent beef, pork, butter and cheese, is annually made here for 
exportation. This fine tract of land was originally purchased 
of the natives by Mr. Hallock in 1646, and who subsequently 
took in with him, as part owners, three others, by the names of 
- Tuthill, Youngs, and Brown. There are rocks here of im- 
mense size, some of which have been used for fencing. Indeed, 
the stones are sufficiently abundant to enclose a great part 
of the land with wall, divided into fields of convenient 
size. The principal article which is here relied upon for fer- 
tilizing the soil, is the bony fish, of which almost any desira- 
ble quantity is easily obtained upon the shores at the proper 
season. The population of Oyster- Ponds is between five and 
six hundred, more than half of which is located at the west 
end, formerly called Oyster-PondPs Village, now distinguish- 
ed by the more classical name of Orient. Here are two 
churches, a post-ofiice, some stores, mechanic shops, and two 
docks or wharves. Fifteen vessels are owned, principally 
sloops and small schooners ; which are mostly employed in con- 
veying paving stone to New- York, and in the fishing business. 
It is, on the whole, a very pleasant village, and presents an ex- 
tensive prospect over the adjoining waters. A little north- 
west of the village, and between two considerable elevations 



246 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

near the Sound, is an ancient cemetery, filled with graves 
almost to the very summit of the hills. The stones are most- 
ly of blue slate, common in former times, but now so worn and 
defaced by time and the elements, that very few of the older 
epitaphs can be read. The singular and very secluded situation 
of this place of sepulture, gives to it an appearance which cannot 
fail to excite the most intense interest in the visiter. Many of 
the inscriptions are more than one hundred and seventy years 
old, and so peculiar for their quaintuess and a sort of saintly 
humor, as to be almost ludicrous. The two following, of a 
more recent period, are given as fair samples of many others ; 
one of which having no date, is of itself a singular circum- 
stance : 

" In memory of " Here lyes Elizabeth, once 

Michal, wife of Nath'l. Tuthill, Samuel Beebee's wife, 

who died Feb. 15, 1756. who once was made a liying^soul, 

Beneath this little stone But now's deprived of life. 

Does my beloved lie, ' Yet firmly did believe, that at 

O pity, pity me, whoever passeth by ; the Lord's return ; she should be 
And spend a tear at least, Made a living soul, in his own 

Or else a tear let fall, on my shape and form — Liv'd 4 and thirty 

Sweet blooming rose, whom years a wife. Died in her 57, 

God so soon did call." Has now lay'd down her mortal 

Boul, in hopes to live in Heaven." 

Upon the eastern part of Oyster-Ponds, is the large and splen- 
did hotel and boarding establishment of Jonathan F. Latham, 
which, for the beauty of its location and extent of accommoda- 
tions, will not suffer materially by comparison with those at 
Coney Island and Rockaway. This retreat is much resorted 
to by strangers during the warm season, for the benefit of pure 
air and sea-bathing. Near the hotel are still visible the remains 
of a fort, erected during the revolution by a party of American 
soldiers, inider the command of Col. Henry B. Livingston, 
for the purpose of preventing the landing of the British troops 
upon this part of the island. 

Nearly a mile easterly of Oyster-Pond Point is Plumb Is- 
land, about three miles in length, and containing eight hun- 
dred acres of land, between which and the Point is Plumb- 
Gut, uniting the waters of the Sound and Gardiner's Bay. 
The population is about seventy-five, and most of the island is 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 247 

owned by Mr. Jerome, who resides upon it. It was purchased 
from the Corchoug tribe in 1667 by Samuel Wyllys of Hartford, 
for one barrel of biscuit, one hundred muxes, and a few fish- 
hooks ; and afterwards became the property of Joseph Beebee of 
Plymouth. The surface is rocky and uneven, the soil of a mo- 
derate quality, and its shores abounding with fish. It was once 
called the Isle of Patmos. On the west side, the United 
States have erected a light-house. Here was formerly a large 
rock, so exactly poised upon another still larger, as to present 
quite a natural curiosity. Daring the revolution some British 
soldiers attempted to dislodge it, for the mere pleasure of 
seeing it roll into the abyss below, but were unsucessful. In 
1814 a few of Commodore Hardy's sailors were more for- 
tunate, and moved from its ancient resting-place this huge 
mass of granite, which had hitherto rested undisturbed since 
the creation. A few miles north-east from Plumb Island, in that 
part of the Sound which, on account of the swiftness of the cur- 
rent, is called the Race, are situated the Great and Little Gull 
Islands. These must long since have disappeared but from 
their being composed of solid rock. The larger island contains 
about fifteen acres, and the other only one. Upon the latter 
a light-house was erected some years since, more important to 
mariners than almost any other upon the coast, this being the 
principal entrance from the ocean into the Sound. The wast- 
ing effects of the waves have made it necessary to protect the 
works by a sea-wall, which consumed in its construction more 
than twenty-five thousand tons of stone, brought from the Con- 
necticut shore. The scene presented here during an easterly 
storm is not only sublime, but terrific ; and the heavy surf 
breaking upon the shore, shakes the very foundations of the 
buildings, and threatens to overwhelm the whole island with 
its mountain waves. To the north-east of these islands, 
and between them and the main land of New England, lies 
another island belonging to this town, called Fisher's Island, 
which is larger than either of those before mentioned, and of 
greater value. 

Fishefs Island lies about six miles north east of the Gull 
Islands, is four from Stonington, and nine from New London. It 



248 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

was originally called Vissher's Island, and was so named by 
Captain Adrian Block, who, as De Lact says, " in the year 1614 
built a yatch (at New Amsterdam), with which he sailed 
through the Hellegat into the Great Bay (the Sound), and visit- 
ed all the places thereabout, and went as far as Cape Cod." 
He named Block Island after himself, and probably this island 
after the name of some one of his companions. It is nearly 
nine miles long, and of a medial width of one mile ; contain- 
ino" about four thousand acres. The surface is undulating, 
and sometimes hilly ; the shores irregular, with two convenient 
harbors, called east and west harbors, the latter of which is of the 
most importance. Momit Prospect^ near the west end of the 
island, is a high sand-blufF; and near the middle of the island 
is another, still higher, which overlooks the adjacent country, 
and may be seen a good distance beyond Montauk Point. 
Some parts of the island are rocky, and there are many large 
single rocks upon the surface. The salt meadows are exten- 
sive, and a few of the swamps afford an excellent peat, which is 
much used for fuel. There are some tracts of level land, and 
the pasture fields are both large and well watered by never-fail- 
ing ponds ; one of which, near the centre of the island, occupies 
between forty and fifty acres of ground. A greater portion of 
the soil is appropriated for grazing, and is capable of sustaining 
three thousand sheep, three hundred neat cattle, and other 
kinds of stock in proportion. A smaller amount of stock is now 
kept ; the raising of English hay being considered more profita- 
ble. The staple articles raised here are wool, (of the Saxony 
and merino breeds,) butter and cheese. The beef and mutton 
made here are of superior quality and flavor. The base of one 
of the hills is a fine clay, of which great quantities of bricks 
have been burned. There are forty-five persons of all ages 
upon the island employed in the business of the farms, dairy, 
&,c. Tills island has been in the Winthrop family from the 
first purchase by John Winthrop, governor of Connecticut, 
son of John Winthrop first governor of Massachusetts. The 
purchase was made in 1644. The wife of Mr. Winthrop was 
the daughter of the celebrated Hugh Peters, who was exe- 
cuted in London, on the 16th of October, 1660. Mr. Winthrop 



TOWN OP SOUTHOLD. 249 

was a man of fine natural genius, and greatly improved by edu- 
cation and study. He was chosen governor of Connecticut in 
1657, and again in 1650, which office he retained till his death, 
April 5th, 1676. A patent of confirmation was granted to him 
by Governor Nichols, on tho2Sth of March, 1668, by the terms 
of which the island was declared "to be reputed, taken and 
held an entire enfranchised township, manor and place of 
itself; and to have, hold, and enjoy equal privileges and immu- 
nities with any town, enfranchised place or manor, within the 
government of New-York ; and to be in no wise subordinate or 
belonging unto or dependent upon, any riding, township, place, 
or jurisdiction whatever." In the year 1680 the government 
of Connecticut laid claim to this island as being within their 
jurisdiction ; in consequence whereof his excellency, Governor 
Andross, addressed the following spirited and laconic epistle to 
the Hon. William Leet, Governor of Connecticut : 

" Honble Sr. — Being advised by an order or warrant from yourself and some 
assistants sent to ftjsher's Island, I am much surprised att your Intrenching upon 
his Maties Letters Patents to his Royal Highness, as well as the Grant by 
Govenour Nicolls to the Honoble. John Winthrop, Esq. (late Governor of 
Connecticut) for sd Island ; which Island and Grant it is my Duty to Assert, 
as much as tiiis or any other part of the Govermt ; And therefore desire that you 
will, without delay, recall sd warrant or order, and forbear any the like proceed- 
ings for the future, to prevent great Inconveniencys ; and remaine your Effection- 
ate neio-hbour and Humble Servant, E. Andross." 

" To the Honble William Leet, Esqr. Gover- } 
r.ourof his Maties colony of Connecticut." ^ 

On the death of Mr. Winthrop in 1676, the island descended 
to his son, John Fitz Winthrop, who was likewise governor of 
Connecticut from 1698 to his death, November 27, 1707. At 
his decease, without issue, the island passed to his nephew 
John Winthrop, son of his brother Wait Still Winthrop, and 
thence to his son, Francis Bayard Winthrop, whose death took 
place in 1817. He devised the island to his four sons, John 
Still Winthrop, Francis Bayard Winthrop, William H. Win- 
throp, and Thomas C. Winthrop. William H. Winthrop hav- 
ing purchased the interest of his co-tenants, is now sole owner 
of this valuable estate. From papers in the possession of this 
gentleman, it appears that an attempt was made by one of his 
ancestors, in the year 1712, to transport a pair of moose deer 

32 



250 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

from this island to England, as a present to Glueen Anne, which 
failed by the death of one, and the other breaking its leg ; and 
her majesty was finally presented with the horns only. 

There are twelve churches, Presbyterian, Baptist, Method- 
ist, and Universalist, within the limits of this town, the most 
of which have been recently erected. The first church, and 
of the Presbyterian order, was built in 1642, and was succeed- 
ed by another in 1684, which remained till 1803, when the 
present church was erected in its place. 

^he first minister was the Rev. John Youngs, who was 
also one of the first settlers of the town. He had been a 
preacher at Hingham, England ; and came to New-Haven in 
1638, from whence he removed with a part of the members of 
his church to this town in 1640, where he continued till his 
death in 1672. His posterity are numerous, and many of them 
are now residents of this and the neighboring towns. His 
eldest son, Col. John Youngs, was appointed under the autho- 
rity of Connecticut (after the reception of their charter in 1662) 
a judge, for the towns of Long Island subject to their jurisdic- 
tion. And in 1681 he was created high sheriff of Yorkshire, 
(including the whole of Long Island ;) which office he held for 
several years. He was in all respects a highly intelligent and 
respectable individual. His death occurred in 1698. His son 
Benjamin, and grandson Joshua, were successively judges of the 
county. The Rev. Daniel Youngs, another descendant of the 
Rev. John Youngs, was the third minister of Brookhaven, 
where he died in 1753. 

The second minister of this town was the Rev. Joshua Ho- 
bart, son to the Rev. Peter Hobart, who died at Hingham, Mas- 
sachusetts, January 20, 1679. Three of his brothers were like- 
wise clergymen. One of them, the Rev. Nehemiah Hobart, 
was father of the Rev. Noah Hobart of Fairfield, Connecticut, 
and grandfather of the Hon. John SIoss Hobart, forme rjudgeof 
the supreme court of this state. The Rev. Joshua Hobart was 
born at Hingham in 1628, and graduated at Harvard College 
in 1650. His settlement took place in 1674, and his death in 
1717. His brother, Jeremiah Hobart, was the second minister 
of Hempstead. 



TOWN OP SOUTHOLD. 251 

The third minister of the town was the Rev. Benjamin 
Woolsey, born in 1687, and graduated at Yale College in 1709. 
He settled here in 1720. and in 1736 removed to Dor-oris in 
Q,ueen's County, where he died in 1750. His sons were Me- 
lancton and Benjamin, of whom more particular notice will be 
taken hereafter. 

The fourth minister was the Rev. James Davenport, son of 
the Rev. John Davenport of Stamford, and grandson of the 
celebrated John Davenport who came from England with Go- 
vernor Eaton in 1637, and was the first minister of New-Ha- 
ven. Mr. Davenport was born at Stamford in 1710, and gra- 
duated at Yale College in 1732. He settled in this town in 
1738. A few years after he began to entertain new views of 
religion, and became a wild and visionary enthusiast. He tra- 
velled much about the country, and his extraordinary discourses 
were listened to by thousands. He finally became so trouble- 
some, that in 1742 the general assembly of Connecticut, request- 
ed the governor and council to have him transported out of that 
colony. He eventually recovered from this state of mental delu- 
sion, and published to the world a confession of his errors. He 
removed from this town in 1746, and died at Freehold, New 
Jersey, in August, 1755. His brother, Abraham Davenport, was 
a colonel and judge in Connecticut, and died at Stamford in 1789. 
His son John, born at Freehold in 1752, became the minister 
of Deerfield, New Jersey, and died July 13, 1821, at Lysander 
in this state. 

The fifth minister of this town was the Rev. William 
Throop, who graduated at Yale College in 1743, settled here 
in 1748, where he died in 1756 ; and was succeeded by the 
Rev. John Storrs. Mr. Storrs graduated at Yale College in 
1756, was settled here in 1763, and again removed in 1787. 
The next minister was the Rev. Joseph Hazard. His settle- 
ment took place in 1797. He removed in 1808, and subsequent- 
ly died at Brooklyn, where he left an only daughter. The 
Rev. Zachariah Greene was settled in the parish of Cutchogue 
in 1786, and removed to Brookhavenin 1797, where he still re- 
sides. The Rev. Jonathan Huntington, one of the present mi- 
nisters of this town, is a great-grandson of the Rev. Nathaniel 



252 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Hunting, second minister of Easthampton. He graduated at 
Yale College at 1S04, was settled here in 1807, and is much 
esteemed for his many amiable qualities. 

For some years after the conquest, the county courts were 
held occasionally in this town, and a prison for the county was 
ordered by the court of sessions to be prepared here /or the 
punishment and safe keeping of prisoners. The following, 
from the town records, relates to this subject : " Southold, De- 
cember 15, 1684, there was chosen by vote at town meeting, 
Samuel Young's and Thomas Clarke, both carpenters, to view 
and appraise the old meeting-house in order to make a county 
prison of said house, and upon their return they give in, they 
valued the body of the house at thirty-five pounds-" On the 
sixth of April, 1725, a new jail having been erected at River- 
head, it was resolved at town meeting that the prison-house 
should be sold by the overseers if they could get uhc.t it icas 
■worth. 

The village of Greenport, which was commenced by a few 
spirited individuals in 1827, is already the largest and most 
prosperous village in the town, and bids fair to become a place 
of much commercial importance. It is very conveniently as 
well as advantageously situated at the head of what is called 
Southold Harbor, a part of the great Peconic Bay, twenty-three 
miles east of the court-house. It was at first laid out into 
streets and building lots in a regular manner, and now con- 
tains about one hundred dwellings and six hundred inhabit- 
ants. A large and convenient hotel has been erected, two 
churches, and a school-house ; besides wharves and railways 
for the accommodation of vessels, the water being of sufiicient 
depth for the largest ships, well sheltered from storms, and 
rarelv, if ever, obstructed with ice. Several brio-s. schooners, 
and smaller vessels are owned here, employed in the coasting 
trade, besides five other vessels, araountino^ in the ao:g-reo;ate to 
two thousand tons, successfullv ensfa^ed in the South Atlantic 
whalins: business. That this highly privileged spot is destined to 
make still more extraordinary advances in population and trade 
there can be no reason to doubt ; and should the Long Island 
rail-road reach its intended destination at this place, it will 



TOWN OP SOUTHOLD. 253 

become, in many respects, an important out-port of the com- 
mercial metropolis of the Union. Ciitchogue and Mattatuc are 
thinly settled vicinages ; and the people, as is the case of the in- 
habitants of this tow;n in general, are agriculturists, and among 
the most prosperous in the county. Fish is very commonly 
used as manure, and has produced most extraordniary results 
to the farminof interest of the town. 

The Presbyterian church at Mattatuc was built in 1697, and 
rebuilt in 1830. The one in Southold parish was erected in 
1805, and that at Franklinville in 1830. At the latter place 
is a neat academy, completed in 1832. The Methodist church 
at Cutchogue was built in 1829 ; and the Universalist church 
in Southold parish, in 1835. There are several fine necks of 
land upon the south side of the town, the most important of 
which are Great and Little Hog-Neck. The former contains 
some hundreds of acres divided into a number of farms. The 
soil of the town may be denominated a sandy loam ; the sur- 
face level, except on the north, which is ston^'-, rough, and hilly. 
The shore on this side is irregular, and there are some consi- 
derable necks or points which project into the Sound, particu- 
larly Horton's, Rocky, and Duck Pond Points, and constitute 
separate farms. 

On a grave-stone of one of the first emigrants to this town 
is the following inscription : 

"Here Lyeth Buried HE Body of Mr. Barnabas Hortoii. 
Born at Mousley, in Lestershire, in Old England ; and died 
at Southold HE 13th day of July, 1680, aged 80 years." 
" Here sleeps my body, tombed in the dust, 
" Till Christ shall come and raise it with the just." 

Aiiother. 
" Here lteth the eddy of Captain John Conkelyne, born 
IN Nottinghamshire in England, who departed this like 

THE SIXTH DAY OF ApRIL, AT SoUTHOLD, ON LoNG IsLAND, IN 
THE SIXTY -FOURTH YEAR. OF HIS AGE." AnNO DoMINI. 1694." 

The names of Horton, Youngs, and Conkling, which were 
amonof the first settlers of the town, are still the most numerous. 
In the year 1670 Jasper Grifiing, a native of Wales, settled 
here, where he died, April 17, 17 L8, leaving three sons, Jasper, 
John and Robert. The first settled at Lyme, the second at 



254 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Riverhead, and the third remained here. The late Rev. 
Edward Griffing, of Newark, and George Griffing, Esq. of 
New- York, are descendants of the last-named Jasper Griffing. 
The Hon, Ezra L'Hommedteu, was a native of this town. 
His grandfather Benjamin was born at La Rochelle, in France, 
and was one of the persecuted Hugonots, who, on the repeal of 
the edict of Nantz, fled to Holland, from whence he came 
to America in 16S6. In 1690 he settled in this town, and soon 
after married a daughter of Nathaniel Sylvester of Shelter 
Island, by whom he had two sons, Benjamin and Sylvester. 
Tiie latter was the father of the late Samuel L'Hommedieu, 
Esq. of Sagg Harbor. Benjamin married ^lartha, daughter of 
Ezra Bourne of Sandwich, iVIassachusetts, June 4th, 1731, and 
died September 17, 1755. Their son, Ezra L'Hommedieu, was 
born here August 30, 1734, and graduated at Yale College in 
1654. His first wife was Charity, daughter of NicoU Floyd of 
Brookhaven, and sister of General William Floyd, whom he 
married December 24, 1756. She died July 31, 17S5, and on 
the i5th of June, 1S03, he married for his second wife, Catha- 
rine, daughter of Nicoll Havens of Shelter Island, by whom he 
had a dausfhter. afterwards the wife of Samuel S. Gardiner, a 
respectable member of the New- York bar. Mr. L'Hommedieu 
was educated a lawyer, and became eminent in his profession. 
He was early called into the public councils of the state, and for 
a period of forty years without intermission his name is found 
associated with the prominent patriots and legislators of the 
state and Union. He was elected to congress in 1779, and was 
a member of several succeeding congresses previous to the 
adoption of the federal constitution in 17SS. From this time 
till a short period before his death, he was almost constantly in 
the senate of this state. He was appointed clerk of the county 
of Suffolk in 17S4, and retained the office for twenty-six years. 
He was fond of agricultural pursuits, and both by his example 
and writings did much to advance the science and practice 
among his fellow-citizens. His death took place the 27th 
of September, 181 1, in the 7Sth year of his age, leaving behind 
him an exalted reputation for intelligence and private worth. 
Thomas S. Lester was horn in this town in 1781, and ai- 



TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. 255 

ter receiving a good common education, commenced the study 
of the law under the direction of Mr. L'Hommedieu, by whom 
he was patronized and assisted, and to whose professional prac- 
tice he succeeded in, 1805. He held for some time the office of 
district attorney, and was several times elected to represent 
the county of Suffolk in the assembly. In short, he was an ac- 
tive and highly useful man ; and his premature death, at the 
age of thirty-s ix, on the 13th of September, 1817, was universal- 
ly regretted by his friends and the public. 

John Wickham, an eminent lawyer of Virginia, whose 
death took place at Richmond on the 17th of January, 1839, 
was also a native of this town, a son of John Wickham, 
a respectable farmer. He left here in early life, and established 
himself in the practice of the law at Richmond, where he ac- 
quired a high reputation and amassed a large fortune. 

Zacheus Goldsmith was born here on the 8th of May, 
1766. He very early manifested a strong disposition for the 
acquisition of knowledge, and was enabled, by his application 
and industry, to supply in a great measure, the want of a libe- 
ral education. He read with avidity every thing that came in 
his way, and by dint of a retentive memory became possessed 
of a large fund of general information. His acquaintance with 
history, for which he had a peculiar relish, was extensive and 
accurate ; and a desire to become familiar with the geography 
of his own country, and to witness her extent and resources, 
led him, while a young man. to travel over the western territory 
of the United States, when it was for the most part a wilder- 
ness, and attended by dangers sufficient to intimidate the most 
resolute adventurer. He traversed much of the same country 
again at an after-period, when it had become the theatre of 
civilization and improvement ; and had the satisfoction, us he 
expressed it, of seeing the wilderness blossom like the rose, and 
the desert rejoicing in the existence of towns, villages, and 
cities, with all the animated accompaniments of trade and com- 
merce. Mr. Goldsmith was the advocate of liberty and equal 
rights, and wished for the gradual abolition of slavery in all 
the states. His temper was mild and conciliatory ; and it was 
rare that any thing was able to disturb his equanimity or pro- 



256 HISTORT OF LOXG ISLAND. 

voke his resentment. His conduct was mosi e:semplaiTs vad 
\ronhy the imitation of others. He died in the seTentieth y^ir 
othis a2;e, on the Sth of April, lS3o. 

TOWN OF RI^'ERHRAD. 

This town is bounded easterly by Sonthold, southerly by 
S -" u . hampton, westerly by BrookhaTcai, and nordierly by Long 
Island Sound. It was Ibrmerly embraced within the limits of 
Si, which originally extended from the eastern boandary 
.iiaaren to Orster-Poud Point, and remained so till the 
p^i -^ of ihe act of the 13th of March, 1792, by which it was 
SCI oa from Southold, and organized as a separate town, deriv- 
ing its name frx:>m that of the principal settlement at the bead 
of Peconic Bay or River, where the same is navigable for very 
small vessels only. The first town meeting was held here 
the 7rh of April, 1792. when the following Moned persons were 
elected town officers, to wit : David Wells, supervisor : Josiah 
Reeve, town-clerk ; John C. Terry, Joseph Wells, and Ben- 
jamin Petty, assessors ; Jeremiah Wells, and Spencer Dayion, 
commissioners of highways ; Daniel Terry, Zachariah Hal- 
lock, and David Edwards, overseers of the poor ; and Sylva- 
nus Brown, collecior. Only a comparatively small portion of 
the lands ot this town is under improvement, and much of the 
remainder, from the natural sterility of the soil, is incapable of 
profitable cultivation. Much of the territory is covered with 
wood, and this article has long been a staple tor transportation. 
In the southern section of the town the suriace is level, the soil 
light aud.saudy, and the timber chiedy pine ; while toward the 
Sound the surtace is rough and hilly, the soil loamy, and oak 
timber more generally foevails. The hiils on the nonh are a 
pan of tlie spine or ridge of the island, and the'cli^ near the 
shore are high and precipitous. 

There aie two considerable streams in the town, one upoQ 
its western border, called the Waduig River, or Brook, and by 
the Itnlians Pauquacamsuck, which, commencing in the south 
part of the town, discharges itself into a salt creek setting up 
from the S--»imd : and the other called the Peconic I^ver, which 



TOWX OF RirKRHK-UX 257 

b&s is origin in the easCem pait of BrookiuLV«i, nins easterly 
to, and tmniiMtes in Pecooic Bay. Upon the latter stream are 
several milk and manu^ctwies, which have been in active 
operasioQ fivr many -yeais, and the qoantity of water is supposed 
sufficient to propel doable the machinery yet erei^ed upon it. 
3ibny plans have beoi in agitatico to in^trove the narigtitioa 
oi this stream, and amonv other measnies ibr die accomplish- 
ment of the poipose, a company was incorporated on the 10th 
of March, 1S35, with a capital of lea thousand dollars, to make 
a sloop channel trom the head of na^igatkn in Feconic River, 
up io thedamor iMndge at the Tillage of Riverhead ; aiMi which, 
if earned into efibct, as is oonfid^itly expected, the yaloe of 
pn^Krty in the neighborhood will be greatly enhanced, popu- 
laikn essentially increased, and business of every d&cription 
experience fresh inspiration. Capital and oiterprize only, are 
leqaiied, in addition to the advantages affi>rded by nature, to 
make this |4aoe the theatre o{ a Tariety of leefnl raanufjstctunng 
esiablishmaits. The recent improTements in the Tillage of 
Rirerhead, as well as those of James-Port, two miles et^ are 
gaitsfactory indications of what may. in a surprisingly short pe- 
riod, be accomplished by the union of euersry and industry. 

The county bmldings are located in this village, and the 
courts have been hdd here, uninturuptedly, for more than a 
century. Instead of a few mean and scattered dwellings as 
formerly, it now contains a handsome collection of wdl-boilt 
houses, stores, and mechanic shops. The court-hoose, standing 
in the midst as a &ithful s^itind, to watch over the peace and 
welfare of the inhabitants, \Hiile the cross-barred windows of 
the jail frown indicant upon all violadons of the laws. H«e 
is a GongregatioDal. a M^hodist, and a New Jerasalem churdi, 
several stores, two hot^ a drag-diop, grist-mill, saw-mill, full- 
ing-mill, and a due pit^ition of mechanics and artisans. A 
handsome female acadony waseiet^edin lS35,and hasbeen thus 
&r well patrmixed. The feUowing observations, in relation to 
this part of the country, are contained in the late President 
Dwight^ journal of his tra^ds through Long Island in the 
year 13D4: — ^^ Rivohead (says he) is the shire town o( this 
county. The court-hoose. a poor decayed boilduig, and a mi> 

33 



25S HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

serable hamlet, containing about ten or twelve houses, stand near 
the efflux of the river. From this account of the court-house, 
it will naturally be expected that the business of lawyers and 
sheriffs is not here in very great demand, nor in very high re- 
putation. The suspicion is certainly well-founded. The coun- 
ty court, or court of common pleas, sits here twice a-year ; as- 
sembles on Tuesday, and, after having finished its whole bu- 
siness, adjourns almost always on the succeeding day. No 
lawyer, if I am not misinformed, has hitherto ever been able to 
get a living in the county of Suffolk. I entertain a very res- 
pectful opinion of the gentlemen of the bar, but all will agree 
with me in saying, that this exemption from litigation, while it 
is a peculiar, is also a very honorable characteristic of this 
county. Not far from this hamlet is a spot of ground, about 
three miles in diameter, which, as I was informed by good au- 
thority, is covered with shrub oaks and pines not more than 
five or six feet in height. In the whole tract there is not a sin- 
gle tree of the usual size, although it is surrounded by a forest 
of such trees. The cause of this phenomenon, in a place where 
the soil is substantially the same with that of the neighboring 
country, is not easy to assign." Were the venerable president 
now alive, and to travel over the same ground, he would have 
the satisfaction of seeing a pretty decent-looking court-house, 
something more than a miserable hamlet, and a very respect- 
able population of steady, industrious citizens. He would find, 
too, that even in the county of Suffolk the annual crop of liti- 
gation is considerable ; that there are about one dozen lawyers 
living in the county, two of whom are located in this village, 
and most of them at least getting a tolerable living by their 
professions alone. But times are materially changed in thirty 
years, and improvement is now the order of the day. 

The villages of Aquabogue and Upper Aquabogue, Fresh 
Ponds, Baiting-Hollows, and Wading-River, are considerable 
vicinages, with churches and school-houses in each. A few 
miles west of the village of Riverhead, and upon the Peconic 
stream, there was some years since a manufactory of bar-iron, 
conducted by Solomon Townsend, now deceased, which was 
discontinued at his death. During the late^ war with Great 



TOWN OP RIVERHEAD. 259 

Britain, a number of vessels, owned here, and employed in car- 
rying wood to different places, were captured by the enemy, 
and either burned, or suffered to be redeemed by their owners 
at exorbitant prices. The people, finally, determined, should a 
fit opportunity offer, to retaliate upon these marauders of their 
property ; and accordingly, in the summer of 1814, an occur- 
rence took place, that reflects much credit upon the courage 
and activity of the inhabitants, the facts and circumstances of 
which are thus related in the newspapers of that period, as 
contained in a communication from Capt. John Wells to Col. 
Jeremiah Moore : 

" Riverhead, June 1, 1814. Sir, — I have the honor to inform you that a bat- 
tle was fjught here yesterday, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, between a 
few of the militia of your regiment and double their number of the enemy, which 
terminated in the total defeat of the latter. About ten o'clock in the forenoon, 
an alarm was given that two large barges were standing for our shore from the 
British squadron, then lying six or seven miles out in the Sound. About thir- 
ty militia of Captain Terry's, Reeve's, and my company, collected before they 
reached the shore. The enemy advanced with two large barges, containing 
about twenty-five or thirty men each, within musket-shot of the shore; when they 
saluted us with their cannon and a volley of musquetry, and then gave three 
cheera, and proceeded to the sloop Nancy, lying on the beach. As they were on 
the eve of boarding her, we opened a destructive and well-directed fire upon both 
the barges, which silenced their fire, and stopped their oars in an instant. They 
were so slow in wearing the barges and rowing off, that we had several fires into 
them before they could get out of musket shot. I am happy to say that the 
men fought well, without a symptom of fear ; neither was a man wounded 
among us. But from what we saw, we have reason to believe that many of the 
enemy were killed and wounded. We made immediate preparations for another 
engagement, thinking they might send a large reinforcement, which we should 
have been happy to have met, as vie received a reinforcement shortly after the 
engagement, who found they were too late to take part in the affair. The officers 
present were Captain John Terry, myself, Usher H. Moore, and Ensign James 
Fanning. Your's respectfully, 

"To Lieutenant-Colonel Jeremiah Moore. John Wells, Captain." 

John Cleves Symmes was born in this town in 1740, and 
removed, early in life, to New Jersey, where he was allied in 
marriage with Susannah, daughter of William Livingston, af- 
terwards governor of that state. She was sister to the late 
Hon. Brockholst Livingston, and to Sarah, wife of Governor 
Jay. Mr. Symmes was well known for his enterprising spirit, 
the flattering prospects he once had in view, and for his extra- 
ordinary reverse of fortune. In February, 1777, he was made 



260 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

an associate judge of the supreme court of New Jersey, and in 
the year 1787 he made a successful application to the general 
government to purchase a tract of land, immediately north of the 
Ohio, and between the Miami rivers. A bargain was concluded 
with the commissioners of the board of treasury, for a tract 
which it was expected would contain a million of acres, but was 
found to embrace less than six hundred thousand. Of this he 
made payment for no more than two hundred and forty-eight 
thousand, hi 1794 he received a patent from President Wash- 
ington for three hundred and eleven thousand six hundred 
acres, the residue being reserved in pursuanceof sundry acts of 
congress. Judge Symmes removed to the North-west Territo- 
ry in 1789, and was appointed one of the district judges of the 
United States, having previously been a representative in con- 
gress. Under his direction, Major Stites and twenty-five emi- 
grants from New Jersey made a settlement at Columbia, six 
miles from Cincinnati, at which latter place he died in Febru- 
ary, 1814. A large and respectable procession attended his re- 
mains from the residence of his son-in-law. General William 
H. Harrison, to a principal landing-place on the Ohio river, 
where military honors were performed by the infantry compa- 
ny commanded by Capt. M'Farland. The body was then ta- 
ken in a barge to North-Bend, and interred on the spot which 
Judge Symmes had previously selected. His daughter, Mrs. 
Harrison, was educated at Easthampton ; and by many who 
knew her, is esteemed a lady of great personal and mental ac- 
complishments. 

John Cleves Symmes, jr., son of Daniel Symmes of this 
town, and nephew of the judge, was also born here. He was 
adopted as well as educated by his uncle, and accompanied 
him to the west. Daring the late war he was a cap- 
tain in the army, and distinguished himself by his intrepi- 
dity upon the Niagara frontier. His death took place at Ha- 
milton, Butler county, Ohio, June 19, 1829. He was an amia- 
ble man, and had a mind much imbued with science. He was 
also projector of a new theory of the earth, upon which he de- 
livered lectures in many places, and gained some disciples 
among scientific men. He believed this earth to be a hollow 



TOWN OF RIVERHEAD. 261 

sphere, open at the poles ; that it had within it several other con 
centric hollow spheres, open also at their poles; and that it was 
possible to pass from one pole to the other through the centre 
of the earth. This novel conjecture met with so little success, 
that the author became dejected : a morbid melancholy took 
possession of his mind, and hastened his death in the meridian 
of life. 

Hull Osborn, an attorney and counsellor at law, a gentle- 
man highly esteemed for his strict integrity and inoffensive 
manners, was a native of Southold, where he was born in 1771, 
and was for many years a resident of this town. He died at 
Westhampton, December 25, 1834. He possessed little talent 
as a public speaker, but was well read in the science of juris- 
prudence, and was greatly useful in the community by his pro- 
fessional acquirements. He retired in a great measure from 
the practice of the law, and assumed the vocation of a farmer 
for several years before his death. 

TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 

This town embraces the whole width of the island, and 
includes more territory than any other in the county. It is 
bounded — north by the Sound, east by the towns of Riverhead 
and Southampton, south by the Atlantic Ocean, and west by 
the towns of Islip and Smithtown ; containing an area of more 
than one hundred and three thousand acres, of which only 
about thirty-five thousand are improved. The south beach, 
opposite the town of Islip, also belongs to this town. The ter- 
ritory upon the south side of the town was purchased from the 
Sachem and chief men of the Patchogue tribe ; and that upon 
the north side, from those of the Seatalcot tribe. The first 
settlement in the town was commenced at Setauket in the 
year 165.5, which occasioned the town to be so denominated. 
How it acquired the name of Brookhaven, is conjectured from 
the fact of its having within its limits a number of considera- 
ble streams, the most of which afford at present sufficient 
water-power for propelling machinery for grinding grain, and 
for other purposes. The original planters were Presbyterians 



262 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



and well-educated men, who possessed a competent knowledge 
of the laws and constitution of England, and brought with them 
the true spirit of freedom and independence. The persecuting 
temper of Charles I., aided by the infamous proceedings of the 
Star-Chamber and the High-Commission Court, were the 
means of driving many from their native country, to seek an 
asylum in some distant quarter of the world. Hence the im- 
mense immigrations to every part of the United States in the 
seventeenth century. The number of persons who first came 
to Setauket in 1655 is not exactly known, but the names of 
those who composed the settlement in the course of two years 
thereafter, are as follows : 



Richard WooodhuU 
Zachaiiah Hawkins 
Peter Whitehaire 
John Jenners 
Henry Perring 
Andrew Gibb 
William Satterly 
Thomas Biggs 
John Tooker 
Henry Rogers 
William Fancy 
Jacob Longbotham 
Daniel Lane 
Richard Floyd 
Francis Muncy 
Obed Seward 
John Wade 
William Salyer 
Robert Smith 



Edward Avery 
John Smith 
Samuel Dayton 
John Davis 
William Frost 
John Thomas 
Elias Baylis 
John Thomson 
Thomas Ward 
John Roe 
John Budd 
Henry Brooks 
William Williams 
Robert Woolley 
Samuel Akerly 
Arthur Smith 
Joseph Combs 
Richard Waring 
Joseph Mapes 



Richard Waring 
Thomas Thorp 
Richard Bryant 
Samuel Eburne 
Timothy Brewster 
John Brewster 
Daniel Brewster 
William Poole 
Thomas Sharpe 
George Phillips 
Thomas Smith 
Moses Burnet 
Richard Smith 
Thomas Helme 
Joshua Garlick 
John Moger 
Robert Akerly. 



Most of these persons, if not the whole, came directly from 
Boston and its neighborhood, and agreed to form an independ- 
ent settlement or community upon tiiis part of the island. The 
lands were purchased at ditferent times as the number of in- 
habitants increased and their necessities seemed to require. 
Purchases were sometimes made by individuals for their own 
use, with the consent of the proprietors of the town, whose num- 
ber never exceeded fifty-five. The civil afifairs of the settle- 
ment were conducted by magistrates elected from among them- 
selves, a!id by rules and ordinances adopted in the primary 
assemblies of the people. After the conquest of New- York, 



TOWN OF RIVERHEAD. 263 

and on the 7th of March, 1666, a patent of confirmation for 
their purchases of the natives, was obtained from Governor 
NichoUs, by which he fully ratified, confirmed, and granted to 
Captain John Tucker, Mr. Daniel Lane, Mr. Richard Wood- 
hull, Henry Perring, and John Jenner, for themselves and their 
associates, " all that tract of land, which, (says the patent,) hath 
already been, or that hereafter shall be, purchased for and in 
behalf of the said town, whether from native Indian proprietors 
or others, within the bounds and limits hereafter set forth and 
expressed, (viz.) that is to say, the west bounds to begin at the 
line run by the inhabitants of said town between them and Mr. 
Smith's land of Nissequake, as in his patent is set forth, and to 
go east to the head of the Wading River or Red Creek ; from 
whence, as also from their west bounds, to stretch north to the 
Sound and south to the sea or main ocean ; all which said tract 
of land within the bounds and limits aforefaid, and all or any 
plantations thereupon, from henceforth are to belong and apper- 
tain to the said town ; together with all havens, harbors, creeks, 
quarries, woodlands, meadows, pastures, marshes, waters, rivers, 
lakes, fishing, hunting, hawking, and fowling, and all other 
profits, commodities, emolument, and hereditaments, to the said 
land and premises within the limits and bounds aforementioned 
described, belonging, or in any wise appertaining." 

The first most important entry upon the town books, is a 
copy of the conveyance from Wyandanch, the Montauk Sa- 
chem, (and sometimes styled the Grand Sachem of Paumanake, 
or Long Island,) to Richard WoodhuU and the rest of his neigh- 
bors, for two necks of meadow land upon the south side of the 
island ; the consideration for which is stated to be twenty coats, 
twenty hoes, twenty hatchets, forty needles, forty muxes, ten 
pounds of powder, ten pounds of lead, six pair of stockings, six 
shirts, one trooper's coat, made of good cloth, twenty knives 
and one gun. 

''At a town meeting, February 2d, 1671, it was voted and 
agreed that the constable and overseers is to send a letter to 
Captain Nicolls, for his coming down about the purchasing of 
the south meadows, and to give him encouragement by grant- 
ing him an allotment at the south, as others have, for a gratifi- 



264 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

cation." This is supposed lo refer to Mathias Nicolls, who was 
secretary to the first English governor, and a lawyer of much 
consideration; as was the case with his son, William NichoUs, 
who, many years after, settled at Islip. 

"^4^ a town meeting-, Aovember 17, 1671, it was voted and 
agreed upon, that there shall be a village at the Wading River, 
or thereabouts, of eight families, or eight men, to have accom- 
modation as the place will afford." 

On the nineteenth day of November, 1675, a conveyance 
was procured from the Setauket Sachem, and signed by him, 
together with a few other Indian chiefs of that tribe, for the 
purpose of confirming former grants, and for other lands with- 
in the limits therein mentioned not before fully described. 
This instrument is not only a very curious document, but is 
otherwise of suthcient importance to be preserved in the history 
of the town. It is in the words following: 

" Know all men by these presents, tiiat I, Gie of Setniiket, Sachem, now living 
in Setauket in the east-riding of Yorkshire, with nil my associates that have 
been the native proprietors of all the lunds of Setauket, doth fully and absolutely 
ratify and confirm unto the patentees and their associates of Brookhaven, else 
Setauket, all those parcels of land that have been bought of any of us or our an- 
cestors, that is to say, from the west line that runs from Stoney Brook to the 
North Sea, and south to the middle of the island, and so to extend to the Wading 
River or Red Brook, and to the middle of the island south, and so to the North 
Sea or Sound. I say, I Gie doth for myself and my associates, or any that have 
any thin>; to do with any part or parcel of land within the line above-mentioned, 
of all that the inliabitants have purchased, doth tor ourselves, our heirs and as- 
signs, ratify and confirm unto the inhabitants of Setauket, to them, their heirs, 
executors, administrators, and assigns, with all the uplands, meadows, timbei*- 
trees, with all harbors, creeks, ponds, and fishing, fowling, hunting, with all and 
singular privileges, appurtenances, profits, that any way do or shall belong un- 
to the said tract of land above-mentioned, to have and to hold. And what part 
or parcels of land that is within the aforesaid bounds, that is to say, from the 
west line of Stoney Brook to the east line of Wading River, and from thence to 
the middle of the island south, and to the Sound north, that is yet unpurchased, 
I Gie, Setauket Sachem, myself and my co-partners and associates, doth fully 
five unto Mr- Richard Woodhull whatsoever uplands or meadows that we ap- 
prehend is unbought by the inhabitants of Setauket, I say for some causes and 
considerations us moving, doth fully and absolutely give unto Mr. Richard 
Woodhull, sen., all the uplands and meadows, timber-trees, with all and singu- 
lar privileges and appurtenances, profits whatsoever, from us, our heirs, or any 
that shi\ll come after us, to him the said Richai-d Woodhull, to whom he shall 
tlispose it, to him. them, and their heirs forever, to have and to hold without let 
or molestation, and to the full and absolute confirmation of all the above-said 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 265 

premises, and every part of them we do hereunto set our hands and seal, this 
19th day of November, 1675. 

" Signed, sealed, and delivered Gie Sachem, L. S. 

in the presence of us, Martuse, L. S. 

Robert Phillipson, John Mahue, L. S. 

Richard Mann. Massecarge, L. S. 

Ochedouse, L. S." 

Mr. Woodhull, in a few days thereafter, released to the in- 
habitants of Brookhaven the interest acquired by the said pur- 
chase, as follows : 

" To all Christian people whom this may concern. Know Ye, That I, Rich- 
ard Woodhull, living in Brookhaven else Setauket, in the east riding of Yorkshire, 
for some valuable causes* and considerations, doth assign, freely give, and make 
over to the inhabitants of Brookhaven, all my right and interest that is given me 
by Setauket Indians, that is to say, both land and meadows, timber trees, or what- 
soever is expressed in the above said confirmation and bill of Gie, I say I, Rich- 
ard Woodiiull, for myself, my heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, have 
freely given and make over all that right and title given to me by the Indians, to 
the inhabitants of Brookhaven, else Setauket, to them, their heirs, executors, ad- 
ministrators, and assigns, to have and to hold, and to the true confirmation of the 
same, I do hereunto set my hand this 23d of November, 1675. 

" Richard Woodhull, L. S." 
" Signed, sealed, and delivered 
in the presence of us, 

Robert Phillipson, 
Richard Howell." 

" Ai a town meeting; December 18, 1685, it was voted and 
agreed that Mr. Samuel Eburne shall go to Yorke, to confer with 
the governor about our lands within our patent ; and to get a new 
patent, and that the town is willing to find the governor twenty 
sheep for a present forthwith ; and that Mr. Samuel Eburne shall 
follow his private instruction, and not go beyond it, and that Mr. 
Thomas Helme shall write a petition for the town to the gov- 
ernor." 

In pursuance of this application, a patent was issued, includ- 
ing all former grants, on the 27th of December, 1686, by Gov- 
ernor Dongan, to John Palmer, Richard Woodhull, Samuel 
Eburne, Andrew Gibb, William Satterly, Thomas Jenner, and 
Thomas Helme, trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of 
the town of Brookhaven, and their successors, to the use and 
behoof of the freeholders or inhabitants respectively, their sev- 
eral and respective heirs and assigns for ever. " To be holden 

34 



266 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

of his said Majesty, his heirs and successors in lineage, accord- 
inor to the manner of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, 
within his Majesty's reahns of England, yielding, rendering, and 
paying yearly therefor, and every year henceforth, unto our 
sovereign lord the king, his heirs and successors, or to such 
officer or officers as shall be appointed to receive the same, the 
sum of one lamb, or two shillings current money of this pro- 
vince, upon the 25th day of March, at New-York, in full of all 
rents, or former reserved rents, services, acknowledgments, and 
demands whatsoever. And from henceforward and for ever, the 
said trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of the town of 
Brookhaven do and may have, and use, a common seal, which 
shall serve to execute the causes and affairs, or whatsoever, of 
them and their successors." And the said John Palmer, Rich- 
ard Woodhull, Samuel Eburne, Andrew Gibb, 'William Sat- 
terly, Thomas Jenner, and Thomas Helme, were appointed by 
the said patent the first trustees, to remain in office until others 
should be chosen in their stead. By this patent the town was 
incorporated, and unusually large powers and privileges were 
conferred. Seven trustees, a clerk, constable, and two assessors, 
were authorized to be annually elected by the majority of the 
freeholders and freemen of the town. Under and by virtue ol 
the authority of this extensive patent, (which has since been 
confirmed by an act of the legislature,) the trustees have ever 
since exercised complete authority over the corporate property 
of the town. 

Toicn records^ August 1, WS^, memorandum, thai Richard 
Floyd, sen., hath exchanged a share of meadow and upland at 
Occ7imbomack, with William Satterly, for a share of meadow 
at Patersqitash, with half the amendment of meadow belong- 
ing to the said William Satterly. 

On the 9th of October, 1693, Governor Fletcher granted a 
patent to Colonel William Smith, one of the members of the 
council and chief justice of the province, for a large tract of 
land upon the south side of Brookhaven, known since by the 
name of SjnWi's Patent, '- bounded west by a river called East 
Connecticut, north by the country road, near the middle of the 
island, east by Mastic River, and south by the Main Sea ; with 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 267 

all the islands in the bay between the main land and the beach, 
from a certain gut or inlet called Huntington East-Gut, to a 
place called Cuptwauge, being Southampton west bounds." In 
this patent was likewise included a certain neck or peninsula, 
called Little Neck, lying in Setauket, the Indian name of 
which was Minasseroke, These tracts of land were, by the 
said patent, erected into a lordship or manor, called *S'^ George's 
Manor. The greater part of this property is still in the pos- 
session of the posterity of CoL Smith, and is owned by William 
Smith. William Sidney Smith, and Selah B. Strong, Esquires. 

" At a legal town meetifig, July ye 13^/i, 1687, warned by 
Mr. Justice Woodhull, it was voted and agreed that ten pounds 
a-year shall be payd to the maintenance of a School-Master for 
the future, and that the trustees agree with Mr. Francis Wil- 
liamson to officiate as School-Master, for thirty pounds a-year, 
twenty pounds whereof is to be payd by the children." 

" May 7, 1687, at a town meeting, it was voted and agreed 
that the Indians should be disarmed, and to surrender them- 
selves upon demand, otherwise to be looked upon as enemies. 
Ten men were chosen to go to ye South to disarm ym, and 
their arms to be left at Capt. WoodhuU's." 

'■^ At a town meeting, held the \Sth day of May, 1687, it 
was unanimously agreed that a house should be built upon the 
land that was Goodman Moger's, the same dimensions of Jona- 
than Smith's, to remain a Parsonage-house to perpetuity. And 
the town also agreed that sixty-five pounds should be given for 
the land, and the trustees were ordered to take a bill of sale for 
the same ; and were further ordered to agree with a workman 
to build the said house, and that whatever the trustees did 
therein, should be obliging to the whole toivn.'^ This arrange- 
ment for a parsonage was made several years subsequent to the 
employment of a minister, for the Rev. Nathaniel Brewster was 
settled here in 1665, being ten years from the commencement 
of the plantation. He was a nephew of Elder William Brew- 
ster, one of those bold and independent adventurers that arrived 
in the famous Mayflower in 1620, and laid the foundations of 
the Plymouth colony. The Rev. Nathaniel Brewster was a 
graduate of the first class of Harvard College in 1642, most of 



268 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

whom returned to England in consequence of the hberty then 
allowed to all denominations of Christians. He was settled as 
a minister at Norfolk ; but at the restoration, Episcopacy being 
encouraged by the government, at the expense of the Indepen- 
dents, he came back to America, and was settled in this town 
in 1605 as above mentioned, liis three sons having preceded 
him by several years. ^^ At a town vieetin^r, held Oclober 24l, 
1665, it was voted and agreed to purchase the house and lot of 
Matthew Prior for the accommodation of Mr. Brewster." He 
continued here till his death, in 1690. His wife was Sarah, 
daughter of Roger Ludlow, Esq. one of the most eminent men 
of New England. He was a member of the council, and de- 
puty governor of Massachusetts and Connecticut; and was the 
compiler of the first Connecticut code of laws. For some 
reasons he became displeased with public affairs in the co- 
lony, and removed, in April, 1654, to Virginia, where he died. 
His daughter is represented asa person eminently distinguished 
for her genius and literary acquirements. Mr. Brewster and his 
wife were interred in the Presbyterian buryingground of 
Sctauket, but the inscriptions upon their tomb-stones are too 
much defaced to be read, lie left three sons, John, Timothy, 
and Daniel; all men of excellent character, and highly useful 
during their lives. Their posterity are still numerous and 
respectable. It would seem, that either from age or other inlir- 
mity, Mr. Brewster was incapable of discharging his pastoral 
duties for some years before his death ; for at a town meeting: 
held October 31, 1685, by the warrant of Mr. Justice WoodhuU, 
Samuel l^burne was chosen by vote to be minister of the town ; 
"and it being proposed unto him, that in regard of some tender 
consciences, he would omit the ceremony in the book of Com- 
mon Prayer, the said Samuel promised, that according to their 
desire, in regard of their tender consciences, to omit and not 
use the aforesaid ceremonies in the public worship, except to 
such as should desire the same." " At a training-day, Sep- 
tember 26, 1687, it was ordered by a major part of the town, 
that Mr. Jonah flbrdham of Southampton, be sent unto, desiring 
him to officiate in the work of the ministry in this town." He 
appears to have declined the invitation ; and in the same year 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 2G9 

of Mr. Brewster's death, April 15, 1690, "it was voted by a 
majority of the people present, that Mr. Dngald Simson should 
be desired to continue with them as their minister ; and it was 
ordered that his salary for the year 1689 should be paid accord- 
ing to the rate made the year before ; and that Richard Floyd 
and Peter V\ hitehaire should collect the same." 

" At a toion meetings April ye 10th, 1697, it was fully agreed 
that Mr. Justice Wood hull and Justice Smith shall treat in 
behalf of this town and Smithtown, with Mr. Phillips, in order 
to his settling among us, in case he will engage to perform 
faithfully the duty of a minister of the gospel among us during 
the time of his natural life. That they shall offer to his accept- 
ance, fburty pounds in money, to be raised and levied upon this 
town and Smithtown, and Colonel Smith's manor ; and like- 
wise the house and lot thut was sould by Thomas Jenner to 
Capt. Clark ; and also a farm of outland toward Nasakeges* 
Swamp ; and likewise that Mr. Phillips be desired to remain 
with us upon mutual tryall of each other for ye space of one 
whole yeare." The Rev. George Phillips was the son of the 
Rev. Samuel Phillips, of Rowley, Massachusetts, and grandson 
of the Rev. George Phillips, of Boxford, England, afterwards 
first minister of Watertown, Massachusetts, (having arrived 
with Governor Winthrop in 1630.) Mr. Phillips was born at 
Rowly in 1664, and graduated at Harvard College in 1686. 
Me came from Boston to Jamaica, Long Island, in 1693, where 
he preached till his removal to Setauket in 1697. He conti- 
nued here till his death, April 3cl, 1739. That he was a man of 
solid talents is generally believed, and possessed a happy vein 
of wit and humor, that rendered his company and conversation 
always agreeable. He was interred in the Presbyterian burying- 
ground of Setauket, where a handsome stone was erected to 
his memory a few years since, by Phillip Roe, Esq. one of his 
descendants. Many of the Phillips' family have been eminent 
in New England ; and the Rev. Doctor Miller has observed, 
that few families in this country have been more distinguished 
for liberal donations to religious and literary institutions. One 
of thomfoundedAndover Academy; another, that of Exeter ; two 
have been governors of Massachusetts, and one mayor of Boston. 



270 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

At a meeting of the trustees of this town, October 13tli, 1702, 
the following proceeding took place in relation to the ordina- 
tion of the Rev. Mr. Phillips, which was some years after his 
settlement here : " Whereas preparation is made for Mr. Phillips' 
ordination, and he having made application that some person 
be appointed in the town's behalf, to present him to the persons 
who are to ordain him, it is ordered that Daniel Brewster, 
Samuel Thompson, and Timothy Brewster be a committee to 
present Mr. Phillips in the town's behalf to be ordained, and 
that they accept him in the town's behalf, to be their mmister." 
The town, was extremely liberal of their gifts to Mr. Phillips ; 
for at a town meeting, November 12th, 1G95, it was ordered 
that one hundred acres of land near Nasakeage Swamp be 
laid ont for the Rev. George Phillips at the o/Y/t;mry of the 
town, by Richard Woodhull, surveyor ; and again, on the I2th 
of June, 1701, one hundred acres more were voted to him for 
his use ; and if he continued here for his life, the)i to be to 
him and his heirs for ever. 

" At a town meeting, August 28, 1710, it was agreed that a 
meeting-house be built upon the meeting-house green, to be 
improved in such a manner as the majority of contributors shall 
agree, and according to the tenor of an instrument in writing 
bearing date ye 29th of July, 1710 ; also, Col, Henry Smith, 
Col. Richard Floyd, Justice Adam Smith, Selah Strong, Samu- 
el Thompson, and Jonathan Owen, were chosen to order the 
building, to proportion the same and the place of setting up, 
where it shall stand and remain for the public use." The 
building was soon after erected, and continued to be occupied 
till 1766, when, being somewhat decayed, and insufficient also 
to accommodate the increased number of the conijreiration, it 
was taken down, and a new church erected in that year. The 
town records contain the following entry in relation to this new 
building : " Memorandum of the Meeting-house ; on the 10th 
of February we began to get timber, and on the 19th of the 
same month we raised the house, in the year of our Lord 1766." 
This edifice, although greatly injured by the British during the 
revolution, was subsequently repaired, and stood till ISl I, when 
it was taken down to make way for the present handsome and 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 271 

commodious structure, which was completed in that year. The 
pulpit was a present from the Presbyterian church in Cedar- 
street, New- York, One of the regulations of the town in rela- 
tion to the old meeting-house, is so curious and singular as to 
be thought well worthy of preservation as a relic of the age 
in which so novel a measure was adopted. It is recorded upon 
the town books as follows : 

"At a meeting of the trustees'of Brookhaven, August 6th, 1703. Whereas 
there hath been several rude actions of late happened in our church by reason of 
the people not being seated, which is much to the dishonor of God arsd the dis- 
couragement of virtue. For preventing of the like again, it is ordered that the 
inhabitants be seated after the manner and form following: All fref-holders that 
have or shall subscribe within a month to pay 40 shillings to Mr. Phillips to- 
ward ills sallary shall be seated at the table, and that no v:omen are permitted to 
sit there, except Col. Smith's Lady, nor any v'oman-kind ; And that the Presi- 
dent for the time being shall sit in the right-hand seat under the pulpit, and the 
clerk on the left ; the trustees in the front seat, and the Justices that are inhabit- 
ants of the town are to bo seated at the table, whether they pay 40 shillings or 
less. And the pew. No. 1, all such persons as have or shall subscribe 20 shillings ; 
and the pew. No. 2, such as subscribe to pay 15 shillings; in pew, No. 3, such as 
subscribe to pay 10 shillings; No. 4, 8 shillings; No. 5, 12 shillings; No. 6, 9 
shillings ; No. 7, for the young men; No. 8, for the boys; No. 9, for ministers' 
widows and wives; and for those women whose husbands pay 40 shillings, to 
sit according to their age; No. 11, for those men's wives that pay from 20 to 15 
shillings. The aJley fronting the pews to be for such maids whose parents or 
selves shall subscribe for two, 6 shillings ; No. 12, for those men's wives who 
pay from 10 to 15 shillings; No. 13, for maids; No. 14, for girls; and No. 15, 
free for any. Captain Clark and Joseph Tooker to settle the inhabitants according 
to the above order." . 

The next minister of this church was the Rev. David 
Youngs^ son of the Rev. John Youngs of Southold. He was 
born in 1719, and graduated at Yale College in 1741. His set- 
tlement took place in 1745, and he remained till his death in 
1753. In this brief period he was so fortunate as to obtain and 
secure the respect and confidence of his people. On his de- 
cease the congregation were happy to procure the services of 
the Rev. Benjamin TuUmadge, a gentleman of fine talents and a 
first-rate classical scholar. He was born at New-Haven, Janu- 
ary I, 1725, graduated at Yale College in 1747, and settled here 
in 1754. His first wife was a daughter of the Rev. John Smith 
of White Plains, whom he married May 16, 1750, and by whom 
he had several sons. She died April 21, 1768 ; and on the 3d 



272 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

of January, 1770, he married a daughter of Thomas Strong of 
this town. He died February 5lh, 1786, greatly beloved and 
respected by the whole community : his widow survived liim 
more than fifty years. Mr. Tallniadge was succeeded in the 
ministry by the Rev. Noah Wctmorc. He was descended from 
Thomas Wetmore, one of the first settlers of Middletown in 
1670. He was born there in 1731, and graduated at Yale 
College in 1757. His wife was a daughter of Ithuel Russel of 
Branford. He settled as a minister at Danbury in 1760, from 
whence he removed to this place, April 17, 1786, where he 
died, March 9, 1796. He lefl three sons, Noah, Apollos, and 
Samuel, and one daughter, who married Dr. David Woodhull. 
The Rev. Zachariah Greene was the successor of Mr. Wet- 
more. He is the son of Samuel Greene, of Hanover, New 
Hampshire, and his mother was Jane White, a near relative of 
Hugh White, who was among the first that had the courage to 
overleap the German settlements on the Mohawk. Mr. Greene 
is one of thirteen children, and was born at Stafford, Connec- 
ticut, January llth, 1760. At an early age he volunteered in 
the American army, and aided in erecting the fortifications 
upon Dorchester Heights, Avhich compelled the enemy to evacu- 
ate Boston ; and was on cjuard durino; the niirht of the houses 
being burnt on Dorchester Neck. He was afterwards among 
the forces that opposed the landing of the British at Tlu'og's 
Point in October, 1776, and was in the battle at the White 
Plains. In November, 1777, he marched with the army into 
Pennsylvania; and at the battle of White Marsh received a 
bullet through the shoulder, which disabled him from further 
service. He soon after entered Darthmouth College, where he 
graduated in 1780. Having chosen the profession of a clergy- 
man, and being in due time licensed to preach, he was settled 
as the minister of Cutchogue in the town of Southold, June 28, 
1787, from whence he removed to Setauket, September 27, 
1797. 

The history of the Episcopal Church in this town is very 
obscure, few records of its proceedings having been preserved. 
It is not probable that there was a single Episcopal cimrch, or 
even minister, in the whole colony at the time of the conquest 



TOWN OF BllOOKHAVEN. 273 

in 1664. But after the revolution in England and the acces- 
sion of Q,ueen Mary to the throne, the governors and most 
other officers of state were of the Episcopal order, and therefore 
very naturally confined the patronage of government to those of 
that denomination. This circumstance furnished a strong 
inducement for persons of that order to immigrate to this pro- 
vince, and large and sometimes extravagant grants were made 
by the colonial governor to the church of England. Although 
the statutes of uniformity were never intended to affect the 
colonies, and the government had heretofore professed to encou- 
courage a perfect equality among Protestants of different 
sects, yet it soon became apparent that official influence 
was almost exclusively exerted in favor of Episcopacy, which, 
in the end, produced bad consequences, and, in some instances, 
hostility to the government itself. Lord Cornbury had com- 
mitted outrage upom the Presbyterian church of Jamaica in 
1702, and as his bigotry could not well be satiated by a single 
act, he prohibited the Dutch ministers and teachers from the 
exercise of their spiritual functions without his special license. 
In 1707 he again interfered with the Dissenters, forbidding the 
Dutch congregation in New- York to open their church to Mr. 
Mr. McKemie, a Presbyterian preacher, whom he imprisoned, 
and Mr. Hampton also, another minister of the same sect, for 
preaching at Newtown. It is, however, but charitable to believe, 
that (cw of the Episcopal church approved or even counte- 
nanced such acts of intolerance and persecution. 

Caroline Church, in Setauket, was erected in 1730, and was 
the first Episcopal church on Long Island, built expressly for 
the use of that denomination. In 1734 the town gave them 
a piece of land around it, for a yard and bnrial- ground. 
This building, after having been repeatedly altered and repair- 
ed, is still standing, being nearly one hundred and ten years 
old. The society itself had been previously organized in 1725, 
under the ministration of the Rev. Mr. Standard, but prospered 
more abundantly under his successor, the Rev. Alexander 
Campbell, who arrived here from England in 1729, and during 
whose time the church edifice was completed. He removed in 
1732, and was followed by the Rev. Isaac 13rown in 1733. He 

35 



274 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

was a gentleman of education and talents, having graduated at 
Yale College in 1729, and continued to officiate here several 
years. In 1747 he removed to New Jersey, and was succeed- 
ed the same year by the Rev. James Lyon from Ireland. He 
was a gentleman of good abilities and great energy of charac- 
ter, but at the same time very eccentric. His death took place 
in 1786, from which time, till 1814, the congregation had no 
permanent clergyman. In the latter year the Rev. Charles 
Seabury was engaged, and has thus far zealously devoted him- 
self to promote and sustain the best interests of the church. 
This worthy pastor is the son of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, 
late bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and grandson of 
the Rev. Samuel Seabury, former rector of the church at Hemp- 
stead. Mr. Seabury succeeded his father as the minister of 
New London, where his grandfather had also preached for thir- 
teen years previous to his removal to Hempstead. 

Besides the churches already mentioned, there is a Congre- 
gational church at Old-Mans, first erected in 1720, and rebuilt 
in 1805, of which the Rev. Noah Hailock was for many 
years pastor. The Presbyterian church at Middletown was 
built in the year 1800, and the Rev. Herman Daggett was in- 
stalled there in 1801, but removed to Connecticut in 1807, 
where he died. He was succeeded by the present minister, the 
Rev. Ezra King. The Presbyterian church at Fire-place was 
erected in 1740, and rebuilt in 1828. The Congregational 
church of Patchogue was built in 1767, for which the pre- 
sent church was substituted in 1822. The Methodists also 
built a church here in 1830. The Baptist church at Corum 
has now stood about ninety years. A Methodist church was 
erected at Stoney Brook in 1817, and another has lately been 
commenced at Port Jefferson. 

This town, like most others, presents a diversity of surface 
and soil ; but in general it is sufficient to say, that on the north 
it is broken and somewhat hilly, the soil a sandy loam ; while 
the rest of the territory is a level and sandy plain, with occa- 
sional tracts, well fitted for cultivation. The land in the vi- 
cinity of the Sound, and especially about the bays and harbors, 
is of the best quality, and the timber abundant and thrifty. 



TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 275 

Crane Neck, Old-Field, Strong's Neck, Dyefs Neck, and 
Mount Misery, are respectively fine tracts of land, and have 
more or less salt meadows attached to them. The two former 
project some distance into the Sound, and are separated from 
each other by Flax-Pond Bay, formerly freshwater, which was 
used for rotting flax, submerged in it. About the year 1803 
the water was let out by a channel dug across the beach ; 
the pond now abounds with fish, and its shores with salt grass. 
Old-Field extends still further to the north, and has a light- 
house upon the extreme point, erected in 1823 at a cost of three 
thousand, five hundred and eighty dollars. It contains about 
five hundred acres, divided into several farms, and lies between 
Flax Pond and Oldfield, or Conscience Bay. Strong's Neck, 
formerly called Little Neck, is the property of Selah B. Strong, 
Esq., lying between Oldfield Bay and Setauket Harbor, and is 
almost an island, being attached by a narrow isthmus of mea- 
dow to the main island. It contains about four hundred and 
sixty acres, the most of which is under high improvement. 
The soil is a strong loam, and the surface moderately undula- 
ting in some parts, in others nearly level. The stones are suf- 
ficiently numerous to put the greater part of the fields into stone 
wall. This neck is deficient in forest trees, which is the only 
circumstance impairing its value. The prospect from many 
points is extensive, and highly picturesque, presenting to the ad- 
mirer of natural scenery a varied and beautiful landscape. 
From the local advantages of this charming place, it may well 
be ranked with the most pleasant and agreeable residences 
upon the island. There is a peculiarity in regard to the nu- 
merous springs with which the shores of this neck abound, that 
while those near low water mark are perfectly fresh, others 
more distant are impregnated with saline particles. This neck 
was called by the Indians Minasseroke, and is believed to have 
been the residence of the Sachem and a portion of the Scatal- 
C0t tribe. It was sold by the town proprietors to Colonel 
Smith, and was included in his patent of St. George's Manor, 
in 1693. It belonged to the late Judge Selah Strong at the 
time of his death, of whom the following particulars maybe 
interesting to many. He was descended from John Strong, a 



276 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

native of Taunton, in Somersetshire, England, whose father 
was Richard Strono;. John Strong sailed from Plymouth. 
March 30, 1630, and arriving in America in May following, 
settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts ; from whence, in 1636, he 
removed to Windsor. Connecticut, and with Ro^er Ludlow and 
others, aided in the settlement of that town. In 1659 he removed 
to Northampton, where he died, April 4, 1699, at the ag^ of nine- 
ty-four. His son Thomas lived there also, and died February, 
20, 1690. He had sixteen children, of whom the eldest Avas 
Selah, born December 22, 1688, and while a young man, came 
to Brookhavcn, where he died April 15, 1732. His first son 
was Thomas, who married Susannah, daughter of Samuel 
Thompson, great-grandlather of the compiler of this work. 
Mr. Strong died May 14, 1760, leaving an only son, the sub- 
ject of this notice. Judge Strong was born December 25, 1737, 
and died July 4, 1815. His wife was a daughter of William 
Smith, grand-daughter of Henry, and great-grand-daughter of 
Col. Wm. Smith above named. Judge Strong was several 
times elected to the legislature of this state, and held the office 
of lirst judge of the county courts from 1783 to 1794. He 
was an extensive practical farmer, and was esteemed a man of 
excellent understanding and much intelligence. His children 
were eight in number, the most of whom are now living. He 
conveyed his large estate of Mount Miserij to his son Thomas 
S. Strong, Esq., who has also held the office of first judge for 
a period of thirteen years. This valuable tract of land lies 
upon the east side of the liarbor of Port Jefferson, and has the 
harbor of Old Mans on the east. It contains many hundred 
acres of land, and much fine timber. The surface is uneven, 
but the soil is of good quality, and produces abundance of 
grass, hay, and grain. 

The Harbor of Port Jefferson, SctauJxet Harbor, and Old- 
Field Bay, have one common inlet from the Sound ; and the 
two former atford excellent accommodations for vessels of a 
middling class. The village of Port Jefferson (formerly 
Drown Meadow) has lately become a place of some commer- 
cial importance ; it is pleasantly situated at the head of the bay, 
and may contain a population of three hundred, principally en- 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 277 

gaged in ship-building and navigation. Here are several ship- 
yards, railways, stores, hotels, and a considerable number of 
mechanics. It is much indebted for its commencement and 
present prosperity to the enterprise of the late Captain John 
Wilsie, who began to build vessels here about forty years ago. 
About three miles eastward of this place is the settlement of 
Old Mans, consisting mostly of farmers. The surface is bro- 
ken and stony, and the soil of rather an indifferent quality ; 
(here is, however, a considerable tract of salt meadow between 
the upland and the Sound, which is highly valuable. Two 
miles further east is the village of Miller^ s Place, situated on a 
handsome plain, considerably elevated, and overlooking the 
Sound to a great distance. It was first settled by Andrew Mil- 
ler in 1671, and the most ancient grave found here is that of 
his daughter, who died a young woman in 1690. This is a 
quiet and handsome village, containing about twenty-five dwel- 
lings and one hundred and thirty inhabitants. The soil is 
excellent and well cultivated. A small but neat academy was 
built in 1834, and has proved thus far a useful institution. 

Setanket receives its name from being the principal resi- 
dence of the Seatalcot tribe of Indians. It is the oldest nnd most 
populous settlement in the town, is situated upon both sides 
of the harbor, and occupies about two square miles, being nearly 
equidistant from Port Jefferson on the east, and Stoney Brook on 
the west. For many years after the first arrival of the white peo- 
ple, and before the erection of mills, their grain was conveyed to 
Milford and other places in Connecticut, to be made into flour. 
A grist mill was, in 1690, built upon the east side of the village, 
which has been discontinued for more than seventy years • 
one having been erected upon the stream on the west side 
which has been succeeded by one more valuable, a few years 
since. Setauket was the scene of many revolutionary events 
and no small number of robberies and murders were com- 
mitted by the British and their Tory allies. In 1777 a body 
of the enemy, commanded by Col. Richard Hewlett, had taken 
possession of the Presbyterian church, and surrounded it with 
a picket and other means of defence. On the 14th of Auo-ust 
.about one hundred and fifty men, under the command of Col. 



278 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Parsons, embarked from Black Rock in a sloop and six whale- 
boats, with muskets and a brass six-pounder, for the purpose of 
capturing the force encamped here. They landed before day- 
break the next morning at Crane-Neck-Bend, where, leaving 
their boats with a sufficient guard, marched as quick as possible 
to the villaofe. A flaa: of truce was sent to the church de- 
manding a surrender, which being refused, the firing commenc- 
ed on both sides. In a short time word was brought from the 
boats, that some British ships were proceeding down the Sound, 
and fearing that their return might be intercepted, Col. Parsons 
ordered a retreat to the boats, and the party arrived again at 
Black Rock the same evening, with a few of the enemy's horses 
and some military stores. The soldiers engaged in this ex- 
pedition were volunteers from Col Webb's regiment, among 
whom were the Rev. Mr. Greene and the late Captain Brew- 
ster. Twenty years and one month thereafter the former was 
installed minister of the same church, than which a more im- 
probable event could hardly have been conjectured. 

The village of Stoneij- Brook is on the western side of the 
town, adjoining the Sound, and has one of the best and most 
accessible harbors upon this part of the island. The number 
of dwellings is about sixty, and the population between three 
and four hundred. Ship-building has been advantageously 
conducted here for many years, the place being much nidebt- 
ed for its present prosperity to the energy and industry of the 
late Captain George Hallock. There are one brig, eight schoon- 
ers, and fifteen sloops now owned here, all engaged in the 
coastinof trade. More than four thousand cords of oak and 
walnut wood are annually sent from this port ; and there are 
returned about twenty thousand bushels of ashes, one thousand 
of bone, and three thousand loads of street manure. It is, on 
the whole, a place of considerable activity, and well located for 
business. Many hundred loads of Indian shells found here, 
have been used for fertilizing the soil in the neighborhood, some 
of which shells were covered by a stratum of sand of more than 
five feet in depth. 

Corum IS situated near the centre of the town, and has been 
the seat of town business for more than sixty years, ; town meet- 



TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 279 

ings having previously been held at Setauket. The dwellings 
are not numerous, and the population only one hundred and 
fifty. It has a level surface and a sandy soil, with little natu- 
ral fertility. Here is the town poor-house, with a small farm 
attached, which is well cultivated, mostly by the inmates of the 
house ; and the poor are not only decently but comfortably 
maintained, at a small expense to the town. In or near this 
village the British had accumnlated a large quantity of forage 
in the winter of 1780, which was entirely destroyed by a 
few troops under Col. Tallmadge on the 23d of November, 
while on their return from a successful expedition to Mastic. 

It is with no small gratification we are enabled to mention 
that Dr. Isaac Hulse, now a distinguished surgeon of the navy, 
was born here, August 31, 1796, being the youngest son of the 
late Caleb Hulse, Esq., of this place. While a youth, he left his 
paternal roof, and set out to seek or make his own fortune. In a 
short time he was found engaged in teaching a small school in 
the county of Westchester, where, by his amiable conduct 
and desire for improvement, he attracted the attention of some 
respectable and intelligent individuals, who gave him free ac- 
cess to their libraries. This rare opportunity he did not fail to 
improve, and his thirst for knowledge kept pace with his ad- 
vancement. His first earnings were employed in procuring in- 
struction from others, and at the Jamaica academy commenced 
an acquaintance with the Latin, Greek, and French lan- 
guages, in which he so far improved himself by his own unre- 
mitted exertions, as in a short space to be able to instruct others. 
In a few years he was engaged in superintending a classical 
school in the city of Baltimore, and by his genius and applica- 
tion was in a short time sufficiently advanced to enter upon the 
study of medicine in the university of Maryland, and about the 
year 1820 was honored with a diploma and a gold medal as the 
reward of merit. 

In 1821 he received the commission of assistant surgeon in 
the Navy of the United States, and made several cruises in 
national vessels to the coast of Africa, the West Indies, and the 
Gulf of Mexico. In 1824 he was appointed surgeon to the 
Navy Hospital at Gosport, Virginia ; and soon after was trans- 



280 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

/erred, at his own request, to the hospital at Pensacola, where 
he continued with increasing reputation, till September, 1838, 
when he received from President Van Buren the appointment 
of Fleet Surgeon of the West India squadron, to which he is 
still attached. His medical reports to the secretary of the 
navy exhibit talents and acquirements of a high order; indeed, 
it is rare to find an in(hvidual, who, with so few advantages, 
and by his own unassisted endeavors, has acquired such distinc- 
tion, or secured so prominent a reputation in his profession, as 
Dr. Hulse. While his private character and scientific accom- 
plishments do honor to his birth-place, his wonderful success 
may well serve as a stimulus to all ambitious youth, who aspire 
to fame and usefulness in any profession. 

Patchogiie, so called from the name of the Indian tribe that 
once possessed the territory around it, is the most compact and 
populous village on the south side of the island. It contains 
seventy-five dwellings and between four and five hundred inha- 
bitants. It has a Congregational and a Methodist church, two ho- 
tels, several stores, a grist mill, paper mill, two cotton factories, one 
of woollen cloth, two tanneries, and other mechanical branches. 
It is, upon the whole, a pleasant village, and much resorted to 
by strangers, on account of its vicinity to the bay and ocean, 
and the numerous game which they afford. It is distant sixty 
miles from the city of New- York, and upon the great thorough- 
fare from Brooklyn to Sagg Harbor. Four miles east, and ad- 
joining the margin of the bay, is the recently-built village of 
Bell-Port, which owes its. origin to the spirit and enterprise 
of Thomas and John Bell and a few others. It already 
contains more than thirty dwellings and two hundred inhabit- 
ants, an academy, three stores, two ship-yards, railways, and 
wharves extending several hundred feet into the bay. From 
the progress already made, it is but reasonable to anticipate a 
considerable advancement in its business and population. 
Five miles east of this place is another, called Fire-Place, where 
is a mill, public-house, a church, and some half a dozen dwel- 
lings. It is chiefly important as a rendezvous for sportsmen. 
The stream called East-Connecticut commences in the middle 
of the island, and terminates in the bay a distance of twelve 



TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 281 

miles. It abounds with trout, and some other fish of the finest 
kind. Crossing this stream to the east, we come to that part of 
Col. Smith's original purchase called by the Indians Mastic, and 
divided into several farms, one of which formerly belonged to 
General William Floyd, and another to the lamented General 
Woodhull. The general beauties and delights of this romantic 
spot have been so happily depicted by the poet Hearne, that 
we shall gratify the reader by the insertion of his verses ; 

THE GROVES OP MASTIC. 

Far in a sunny cool retreat, 

From folly and from noise remote, 
I shun the scorching, noon-day heat, 

Contented in my peaceful cot; 
Thro' towns and glades I often stray ; 

Of turn somewhat monastic. 
And spend the solitary day 

Amongst the groves at Mastic. 

Dame Nature, in a kinder mood, 

When things were first created, 
Decreed this spot near ocean's flood, 

An Eden when completed ; . 
Here all the luxuries of life, 

She spread with hand all plastic, 
Beyond the reach of noise and strife, 

Among the Groves at Mastic. 

When Spring her annual visit pays, 

Sol puts a brighter face on. 
And Zephyr fills our creeks and bays. 

With brant and geese in season ; 
Here, on Smith's Point, we take our stand ; 

When free from toils gymnastic. 
Where Death and lead go hand in hand, 

Among the fowl at Mastic. 

Sometimes the tim'rous trout we wait 

Along the streamlet's border, 
With well-dissembled fly or bait. 

And tackle in good order. 
Or catch the huge enormous bass, 

Be his course e'er so drastic. 
While sitting on the verdant grass, 

Close by the Groves at Mastic. 

36 



282 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

The grouse, the pheasant, and the quail, 

In turn we take by changes, 
Or hunt the buck with flippant tail. 

As through the wood he ranges ; 
This strings our nerves ! oh, pleasant toil. 

We want no epispastic. 
Nor Doctor, with his castor oil, 

Among the Groves at Mastic. 

There rosy health, of blooming hue. 

That wholesome child of morn. 
Is seen on faces not a few. 

Their features to adorn: 
Here length of life makes wisdom sage, 

Life's active spring elastic. 
And lets none die, except with age. 

Among the groves at Mastic. 

Moriches is that part of the town lying easterly from Mastic, 
and extends from Mastic River to the eastern limits of Brook- 
haven. The country is thinly settled, and the people mostly 
formers. The soil is sandy, with a slight mixture of loam ; but 
from the facility of manuring with sea-weed and fish, is made 
tolerably productive. The name of Long- Wood has lately been 
conferred upon a part of Col. Smith's purchase between the 
north and south country roads, owned by one of his descendants, 
William Sidney Smith. The following account of the loss of 
human life near this place is recorded in the New- York Journal 
of February 10, 1774 : 

" On Monday, the 24th ult. the house of Mr. Jesse Raynor, in St. George's 
Manor, was destroyed by fire. His wife had sent their five smaller children to 
bed in a loft, to which they ascended by a ladder, and had with them a piece of 
pine-knot lighted. The straw-bed took fire. She went up, and threw the burn- 
ing bed down the hole of the loft, which, falling on the floor, burst into a flame. 
Her husband came with some of the neighbors, and saved a part of the goods. 
But when he perceived not his wife and children, his anguish was inconsolable. 
The eldest daughter, who went for her father, could tell nothing after the throwing 
down of the bed from the loft. As there is no person surviving who was present 
at the conclusion of this awful tragedy, nothing more is known than that his 
wife and five children were destroyed, some of their bones being discovered 
among the burning ruins." 

It has been seen, that among the first European settlers of this 
town was Richard Floyd. He was a native of Wales, from 
whence he emigrated in 1654. By the frequent divisions of 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 283 

land amonofthe proprietors of the town, as well as by individual 
purchase, he becams in time the owner of a considerable real 
estate, some of which is still possessed by his posterity. He 
was a magistrate in the town and a colonel of militia. From 
the frequent recurrence of his name in the records of that period, 
it is evident that he was not only a person of distinction, but a 
highly intelhgent and useful man. The inscription upon his 
tomb is illegible; but upon that of his wife enough remains to 
show that she died at eighty years of age in 1706. His son 
Richard was born in 1661. and married a daughter of Col. 
William NicoUs of Islip. The inscription upon his tomb de- 
clares him to have been colonel of the county, and judge of the 
common pleas. His death took place February 28, 1737. One 
of his daughters married her cousin, William NicoUs, and 
another was the wife of Col. Thomas Dongan, governor of the 
province. Mrs. NicoUs survived her husband, and married 
Dr. Samuel Johnson, of Stratford, Connecticut, afterwards 
president of the college of New-York. The third Richard 
Floyd was like his father, a man of wealth and reputation. He 
was also a colonel of the county and judge of the common pleas. 
His death took place April 21, 1771. His children were Richard, 
Elizabeth, John, Margaret, Benjamin, Gilbert, William, Mary, 
and Anne. Richard, the eldest, married Arrabella, daughter of 
Judge David Jones, of Q,ueen's County, and settled upon a 
farm at Mastic, which was afterwards forfeited by his adhe- 
rence to the enemy in the revolution : he died at the city of St. 
John's. His children were Elizabeth, Anne, and David Richard. 
The latter, in pursuance of the will of Judge Jones, and by 
legal authority, adopted the name of Jones. He married Sarah, 
daughter of Hendrick Onderdonk, and died February 10, 1826, 
leaving two sons, to wit: Brigadier General Thomas Floyd 
Jones, and Major General Henry Floyd Jones, the last of whom 
is now a senator in the state legislature. 

General William Floyd was the son of Nicoll Floyd, and great-grandson 
of the first Richard, who settled at Setauket in 1655. His father had besides, 
seven children, Rath, Tab'dha, Nicoll, Ckarlcs, Charity, Mzry, and Catherim. 
He died in 1752. Genera! Floyd was horn at Mastic, Dece nber 17ih, 1734. 
His eariy education was not such, as from the wealth and ability of his father, 
might have been expected. His natural intelligence was great, and his moral 



284 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

character elevated. His first wife was a daughter of William Jones of South- 
ampton, by whom he had three children, Nicull, Mary, and Catherine. The 
former has long possessed the estate at Mastic, and enjoyed in an eminent degree 
the public respect and confidence. Mary married Col. Benjamin Tallmadge of 
Litchfield; and Catherine became the wife of Dr. Samuel Clarkson of Philadel- 
phia. The second wife of Gen. Floyd was a daughter of Benajah Strong of 
Setauket, by whom he had two daughters, Ann and Eliza. The first married 
George Clinton, son of the late Vice-President of the United States ; and the 
other became the wife of James Piatt of Ut ca. Mrs. Clinton, after the death of 
her husband, married Abraham Varick of New-York. Gen. Floyd was early 
chosen an officer in the militia of Suffolk County, and rose eventually to the rank 
of Major General. He was soon after elected a member of the provincial assem- 
bly, and in 1774 was sent a delegate from this province to the first continental 
congress. In 1777 he was elected a senator; and on the 9th of September of 
that year took his seat in the first constitutional legislature of this state. On the 
15th of October, 1778, he was appointed by the legislature a member of con- 
gress, and was re-appointed, on the 14th of October, 1779, in conjunction with 
Ezra L'Hommedieu and John Sloss Hobart. He was also one of that immortal 
band of patriots, who, on the 4th of July, 1776, signed and published to the 
world the great charter of American Irfdependence. When the British took pos- 
session of Long Island, his family fled for safely to Connecticut ; his house was 
occupied by the enemy, and he remained an exile from his estate for nearly seven 
years. The devastations committed upon his property in his absence, were very 
great. In 1784 he purchased a valuable tract of land in Oneida County, and to 
which he removed with his family in 1803. There he continued to reside with 
the good opinion of his fellow-citizens, and in comparative independence, till his 
death, which occurred at Weston, August 4th, 1821. 

At an early period of the controversy between Great Britain and her colonies, 
the feelings of Gen. Floyd were strongly enlisted on the side of the people, and he 
entered with zeal into every measure calculated to ensure theirrights and liberties. 
These feelings on his part excited a correspondent sympathy on the part of the 
people, and led to his subsequent appointment to the first continental congress, 
which met at Philadelphia the 5th of September, 1774 ; and he most heartily con- 
curred in all measures ajopted by that body. He served on numerous important 
committees, and by his ardor and fidelity rendered essential service to the patriotic 
cause. He enjoyed unusual health till near the close of life, and the faculties of 
his mind remained unimpaired to the last. In his person, he was of a middle 
stature, and possessed a natural dignity, which seldom failed to impress those with 
whom he associated. He was eminently a practical man, without ostentation 
or vanity. When his plans were once formed, he found no reason to alter them ; 
and his firmness and resolution were seldom equalled. In his political character 
there was much to admire. Uniform and independent, his views were his own, 
and his opinions the result of reason and reflection. If the public estimation of a 
man be a just criterion by which to judge, General Floyd was excelled by few 
of his cotemporaries ; since, for more than fifty years, he was honored by his 
fellow-citizens with offices of trust and responsibility. 

Nathaniel Norton. Among the number of native-born citizens of Long 
Island, who contributed by their talents and exertions to assert and establish the 
freedom and independence of their country, and whose best days were devoted to 



TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 285 

her service ; it is to be lamented that many worthy individuals have passed into 
oblivion, while scarcely anything is remembered of their particular services ; 
however much their efforts may have contributed to success in that dark and 
trying period of American history. In the rank of this class of patriots may be 
reckoned the subject of this notice, yet it is evident that he performed much in 
the sacred cause of liberty and his country. Mr. Norton was born in Brookhaven, 
in the year 1742. What were the particular circumstances and employment of 
his juvenile days are not exactly known; At an early age he volunteered as a 
private in the provincial corps in the French war, (which commenced in 1756,) 
in the force commanded by Major General Bradstreet; and in the year 1760 was 
stationed at Oswego. Mr. Norton displayed on all occasions the characteristics 
of a brave and prudent soldier. In the beginning of 1776 he was appointed and 
commissioned as lieutenant in the fourth New-York Continental Regiment, com- 
manded by Col. Henry B. Livingston ; and continued attached to that body till 
toward the end of the year 1781, when the five New-York regiments were con- 
solidated ; and although he was not appointed to a command in those regiments, 
yet such was the estimate of his services and usefulness, that his pay and ap- 
pointments were continued to him during the remainder of the war ; and by a 
resolution of Congress became entitled to his due succession of rank. In the 
same year he was secretly commissioned by Governor Clinton to obtain loans of 
money from the wealthy Whig inhabitants of Long Island for the use of the 
government ; and thereupon the better to conceal this object and fulfil its duties, he 
was appointed to the command of a small national vessel called the " Suffolk," 
in which he cruised in the Sound, between Sand's Point and Newhaven. In this 
business he was very successful, and obtained large sums en the faith of the gov- 
ernment, which he regularly delivered to the governor. Captain Norton had 
previously done duty in the corps de reserve at the battle of Monmouth, on the 
28th of June, 1778, and was engaged with the artillery in that action. He after- 
wards accompanied General Sullivan in the expedition against the Six Nations, 
then occupying the western part of this state, but was prevented by sickness 
from taking an active part in the actions of Bemus' Heights and Stillwater, 
which led to the capture of the British army under Biirgoyne. After the war. 
Captain Norton retired to his farm in this town, and remained till 1790, when 
he became an elder, and subsequently a minister in the Baptist church. He was 
settled for sometime in Connecticut, and afterwards at Herkimer in this state. 
In 1805, age and bodily infirmity made it necessary to relinquish his pastoral du- 
ties, and he spent the remainder of his days in retirement ; which a pension from 
the government enabled him to do in a comfortable manner. His mental powers 
were active and vigorous, his memory retentive, and his conversation at all times 
interesting and agreeable. He died suddenly, while on a visit to New-York, the 
7thof October, 1837; and his funeral solemnities were attended by his surviving 
brethren of the Cincinnati, of which he was, at the time of his death, the oldest 
member. By his own previous desire his body was conveyed to Brookhaven, 
and interred in the burial-ground of the Baptist church at Corum on the 10th of 
October, 1837. 

C.\LEB Brewster, was born at Setauket, in the town of Brookhaven, in 1747. 
He was the son of Benjamin Brewster, grandson of Daniel Brewster, and great- 
grandson of the Rev. Nathaniel Brewster of that place, who is supposed to have 
been a nephew of Elder William Brewster, who arrived with the pilgrims at 



286 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

Plymouth in 1620. The father of Mr. Brewster was a fanner, and the educa- 
tion of his son was restricted to the ordinary branches taught in a country school, 
which at that period comprehended only reading, writin?, and arithmetic. Being 
naturally of an ardent and enterprising disposition, and anxious to explore be- 
yond the confines of his native town, he chose the life of a sailor ; and at the age 
of nineteen engaged himself on board a whaling vessel, commanded by Captain 
Jonathan "Worth, bound to the coast of Greenland. His next voyage was to 
London in a merchant ship, and upon his return found his country involved in 
the revolutionary contest. His enthusiasm in the cause of liberty did not allow 
him to hesitate for a moment the course which his duty called him to pursue, 
and he immediately volunteered his services in securing American independence. 
He was honored in a short time with the commission of lieutenant of artillery, 
and from that time forward was eminently distinguished for zeal and intrepi- 
dity, possessing to the fullest extent the confidence of the oiBcers of the army and 
that of the commander-in-chief. In short, such was the exalted opinion enter- 
tained ofhis integrity, courage, patriotism, and prudence, that in 177S he was 
employed as a confidential and secret agent of Congress; and he devoted himsell 
through the remainder of the strugjle in procuring and transmitting the most 
minute, accurate, and important intelligence relative to the movements and in- 
tentions of the enemy at different points, and particularly in New- York and on 
Long Island : for which he was uncom;nonly well qualified, as well by his 
intimate topographical knowledge of the country, as his acquaintance with the 
people on both sides the great political question, and therefore knew in whom, of 
either party, he could venture to confide. He was among those who, under Col. 
Parsons, crossed the Sound to Long Island in August, 17T7, for the purpose of 
capturing a body of British and Tories, who, under Col. Hewlett, had taken pos- 
session and garrisoned the Presbyterian church at Setauket. On the 23d ol 
June, 1780, he was appointed captain of artillery, and was frequently engaged 
with separate gangs of marauders, who sometimes extended their predatory ex- 
cui-sions upon the main. In November, 17S0, he was a volunteer in the expedi- 
tion under Major Tallmadge to the south side of Long Island, where they sur- 
prised and took prisoners a party of British troops encamped upon Smith's Point 
at Mastic, and on their return destroyed a large quantity of hay and military 
stores at Corum. In 1781 he engaged with and captured an armed boat with her 
whole crew, in the Sound, which he carried safely into Black Rock Harbor. 
Upon reporting the result of this enterprise to the commander-in-chief, he receiv- 
ed from him the following, in reply to his application to be allowed a more con- 
siderable force : 

" Head-auarters, New-Windsor, Feb. 23, 17S1. 

" Sir. — It is not in my power at present to spare any further number of men 
for your detachment, as I am obliged to call in many guards, and weaken other 
necessary ones, to support the garrison of West Point. You will dispose of the 
boat, and what you took in her, tor the benefit of the captors. I am, sir, 

" Your obedient servant, 

'= G. Washington," 

On the 7th of December, 1783, Captain Brewster, with the whale-boats under 
his command, gave chase to several armed boats of the enemy in the Sound, and 
after a desperate encounter, in which most of the men on both sides were either 
killed or wounded, he succeeded in capturing two of the enemy's boats. This 



TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. 287 

action has generally been denominated, by way of distinction, the boat fight ; and 
at the time was justly considered, in connection with its attendant circum- 
stances, one of the most valorous and extraordinary engagements of that porten- 
tous period. It was indeed a truly perilous adventure ; ypt the contest lasted only 
twenty minutes, and some of his boats refusing to come up, he was compelled, 
from his peculiar situation, to engage with the enemy almost single-handed. 
During this short but terrible conflict, his shoulder was pierced by a rifle ball, 
which passed out at his back. His prudence and resolution enabled him to keep 
this occurrence a profound secret till the enemy surrendered, when he found him- 
self exhausted from the elfusion of blood- At\er reaching the shore, he was con- 
fined, under the hands of a surgeon, for some time ; for the injury thus received he 
was placed upon the pension-roll of the army, and continued to receive a gratuity 
from his country for the remainder of his life. He participated in several other 
important and hazardous engagements, while attached to the line of the army, 
the interesting particulars of which it is now impossible to ascertain, as none of 
his compatriots on those occasions are now living. On the 9th of March, 1783, 
he took command of a sloop at Fairfield, for the purpose of attacking the Fox, a 
British armed vessel in the Sound ; and as soon as he came near, he (.>rdered his men 
to board her with fixetl bayonets, himself leading the way. In less than two 
minutes she became their prize. Captain Johnson of the Fox, and two men, were 
killed, and several others wounded ; while Captain Brewster had not a person in- 
jured. This extraoi-dinary exertion on his part was more than his then state 
of health could endure, and in consequence of which he was confined to his bed 
for several months. When he recovered, the preliminaries of peace had been ex- 
changed, and his beloved country had assumed her appropriate station among the 
free nations of the earth. In 1784 he married Anne, daughter of Jonathan Lew- 
is, of Fairfield, Connecticut ; where he continued afterwards to reside, when not 
in public service, to the close of life. In 1793 he was commissioned as lieutenant 
of the revenue cutter for the district of New-York ; and such was his well-known 
skill and prudence, thai on the death of Captain Dennis, soon after, he was ap- 
pointed her commander, which he retained till 1816, with the exception of three 
years of Mr. Adams's administration, to which he was opposed. In that year he 
retired to his farm at Black Rock, where he departed this life at the age of se- 
venty-nine years, February 13, \Sil. In stature. Captain Brewster was above the 
common size, of fine proportions, a commanding countenance, a constitution ath- 
letic and vigorous, and of extraordinary activity. His talent for wit and humor 
was ?Imost unrivalled, and for relating anecdotes few men could be found more 
entertaining. 

His E.xcellency Governor Tompkins, Dr. Mitchill, James Fairlie, Esq. and sev- 
eral other gentlemen, accompanied Captain Brewster in a voyage around Long Is- 
land, in September, 1809 ; and so highly gratified were they all with his polite atten- 
tion to their comfort, that it was resolved to present him a silver cup as a token 
of their obligation and regard. The fort at Staten Island, where most of the 
gentlemen were present, was the spot chosen for delivering the cup, on which 
occasion Dr. Mitchill made an address in his usual able manner, which was hap- 
pily responded to by Captaui Brewster. On the subject of his military services, 
Mr. Knox, former secretary at war, on the petition of Captain Brewster, re- 
ported to the house of representatives, the 21st of June, 1790, that " he was a 
lieutenant of artillery during the war, and was confidentially employed in an 



288 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

armed boat by the commander-in-chief, to keep open the communication between 
Connecticut and Long Island, for the purpose of obtaining intelligence. That he 
performed this hazardous service with fidelity, judgment, and bravery; and the 
approbation of Washington, appears by his certificate, dated June 10, 1784. And 
that, by the execution of the trust reposed in him, he became peculiarly ob- 
noxious to the enemy, who made many attempts to take or destroy him. That 
in the month of December, 1782, he and those under his connnand behaved with 
the highest gallantry in an engagement with three of the enemy's armed boats, 
the largest of which, with the commanding officer, he captured, after an obsti- 
nate resistance ; and in which action he was dangerously wounded, and carried in- 
to Connecticut, at a distance from any hospital, where he languished a long time 
under the pain of his wound." 

Benjamin Tallmadge. This able soldier, statesman, and patriot, has been 
honorably mentioned in the histories of his time as an active and enterprising 
officer of the revolution. He was the son of the Rev. Benjamin Tallmadge of 
Setauket, where he was born, Feb. 25, 1754. His mother died while he was at 
the age of fourteen years, but his father survived till the year 1786. He very 
early exhibited a fondness of learning, and under the tuition of his father, who 
was an excellent classical scholar, made such progress, that at twelve years of 
age he was examined by President Dagget of Yale College, then on a visit to 
Brookhaven, and found well qualified to enter that institution. He, however, 
did not enter till some years after, and graduated in 1773. Soon after, he was 
invited to take charge of the high school at Weathersfield, which station he held 
until his entrance into the army. The legislature of Connecticut having resolv- 
ed to raise their quota of troops for the campaign of 1776, he accepted a com- 
mission of lieutenant, and soon after received the appointment of adjutant in the 
regiment of Colonel Chester. He joined his regiment in New-York in June, 
from which time to the end of the war he was in constant and active service. 
He was engaged in the battle of Long Island on the 27th of August, 1776, and 
was one of the rear-guard when the army retired to New-York from their lines at 
Brooklyn. Before the regiment to which he belonged was discharged, he re- 
ceived the appointment of captain of the first troop in the second regiment of dra- 
goons. The regiment was ordered to rendezvous at Weathersfield, where the 
winter was occupied in preparing for the campaign of 1777. In the course of 
this year he received the commission of major, and was honored with the confi- 
dence of the commander-in-chief and principal officers of the army. He was in 
most of the general battles that took place with the main army in the northern 
states, at Long Island, White Plains, Brandy wine, Monmovith, Germantown, and 
White Marsh. He opened, this year, a secret correspondence (for General 
Washington) with some persons in New-York, and particularly with the late 
Abraham Woodhull, of Setauket, which lasted through the war. He kept one 
or more boats constantly employed in crossing the Sound on this business. On 
Lloyd's Neck, an elevated promontory between Huntington and Oyster-Bay, the 
enemy had established a strongly fortified post, with a garrison of about five 
hundred men. In the rear of this fort a band of marauders had encamped them- 
selves, who, having boats at command, were constantly plundering the inhabit- 
ants along the main shore, and robbing the small vessels in the Sound. This 
horde of banditti iVIajor Tallmadge had a great desire to break up ; and on the 
5th of September, 1777, embarked with one hundred and thirty men of his detach- 



TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 289 

ment, at Shippan Point, near Stamford, at eight o'clock in the evening. In 
about two hours they landed on Lloyd's Neck, and proceeded to the attack, which 
was so sudden and unexpected, that nearly the whole party was captured, and 
landed in Connecticut before morninq;. Not a man was lost in the enterprise. 
For the purpose of breaking up the whole system of intercourse between the ene- 
my and the disaffected on the main, he was appointed to a separate command, 
consisting of the dismounted dragoons of the regiment and a body of horse. 
While stationed near North-Castle, a prisoner was brought in, calling himself 
John Andcrso/i, but who turned out to be Major Andre, on his way to New- 
York after his interview, near West Point, with the infamous General Arnold. 
Of this prisoner Major Tallmadge had the custody up to thedayof his execution, 
and walked with him to the gallows at Tappan, October 2d, 1780. In Novem- 
ber of the same year he resumed his favorite scheme of annoying the enemy on 
Long Island, and having obtained the most accurate information of Fort St. 
George, erected on a point projecting into the South Bay at Mastic, he commu- 
nicated his project to the commander-in-chief, who, considering the attempt as too 
hazardous, desired him to abandon it. Having crossed the Sound and examined 
the particular condition of the post, he was finally authorized to risk the enter- 
prise, by the following letter from Washington. 

" Bead-auarters, Nov. 11th, 17K0. 
" Sir. — I have received your letter of the 7th instant. The destruction of the 
forage collected for the vtse of the British army at Corum upon Long Island, is 
of so much consequence, that I should advise the attempt to be made. 1 have 
written to Col. Shelden to furnish you a detachment of dismounted dragoons, 
and will commit the execution to you. If the party at Smith's house can be at- 
tempted without fmstrating the other design, or running too great a hazard, I 
have no objection. But you must remember that this is only a secondary object, 
and, in all cases, you will take the most prudent means to secure a retreat. Con- 
fiding entirely in your prudence as well as enterprize, and wishing you success, 

I am your's, &c., 

" G. Washington." 
In pursuance of this communication Major Tallmadge ordered the detachment 
to repair to Fairfield. Here being met by other troops, the party embarked, the 
21st of November, 1780, at four o'clock, P. M., in eight whale-boats. The whole 
number, including the crews of the boats, amounted to eighty men! They cross- 
ed the Sound in four hours, and landed at Old-Mans at nine o'clock. The troops 
had marched about five miles, when it beginning to rain, they returned, and took 
shelter under their boats, and lay concealed in the bushes all that night and the 
next day. At evening the rain abating, the troops were again put in motion, and 
at three o'clock in the morning were within two miles of the fort. Here he di- 
vided his men into three parties, ordering each to attack the fort at the same time 
at different points. The order was so well executed, that the three divisions ar- 
rived nearly at the same moment. It was a triangular enclosure of several acres, 
strongly stockaded, well barricaded houses at two of the angles, and at the third 
a fort, with a deep ditch and wall, encircled by an abattis of sharpened pickets, 
projecting at an angle of forty-five degrees. The stockade was cut down, the 
column led through the grand-parade, and in ten minutes the main fort was car- 
ried by the bayonet. The vessels near the fort, laden with stores, attempted to 
escape, but the guns of the fort being brought to bear upon them, they were se- 

o i 



290 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

cured and burnt, as were the works and stores. The number of prisoners was 
fifty-four, of whom seven were wounded. While they were marched to the boats 
under an escort, Major Talhnadge proceeded with the remainder of his detach- 
ment, destroyed about three hundred tons of hay collected at Corum, and re- 
turned to the place of debarkation just as the party with the prisoners had ar- 
rived, and reached Fairfield by eleven o'clock the same evening; having accom- 
plished the enterprise, including a march of forty miles by land and as much by 
water, without the loss of a man. Congress passed a resolve complimentary to 
the commander and troops engaged in this expedition, which was said by them 
to have been planned and conducted with wisdom and great gttllantry by Major 
Tallmadge, awd executed with intrepidity and complete success by the officers 
and soldiers of iiis detachment. The following was addressed to him by the com- 
mander-in-chief: 

" Morristown, Nov. 28, 1788. 

" Dear Sir. — I have received with much pleasure the report of your successful 
enterprise upon Fort George, and the vessels with stores in the bay, and was 
particularly well pleased with the destruction of the hay at Corum, which must, 
I conceive, be severely felt by the enemy at this time. I beg you to accept my 
thanks for your judicious planning and spirited execution of this business, and 
that you will offer them to the officers and men who shared the honors of the en- 
terprise with you. The gallant behavior of Mr. Muirson gives him a fair claim 
to an appointment in the second regiment of dragoons, wlicn there is a vacancy. 
And I have no doubt of his meeting with it accordingly, if you will make known 
his merit, with these sentiments in his favor. You have my free consent to re- 
ward your gallant party, with the little booty they were able to bring fiom the 
enemy's works. Your's, &c., 

" G. Washington." 

During that part of the campaign of 1781 in which the main army was in 
Virginia, Major Tullmadge was left with the forces under General Heath in the 
Highlands on the Hudson ; still, however, holding a separate command, he mov- 
ed wherever duty or a spirit of enterprise dictated. In continuation of his for- 
mer design of annoying the enemy upon Long Island, he marched his detachment 
to Norwalk ; and as Fort Slongo, at Tredwell's Bank, near Smithtown, was pos- 
se<sed by a British force, he determined to destroy it. On the night of the 9th of 
October, 1781, he embarked apart of his troops under the command of Major 
Prescott, with orders to assail the fort at a particular point. At the dawn of 
day the attack was made, the fortress subdued, the block-house and other com- 
bustible materials burnt, and the detachment returned in safety with their prison- 
ers, and a handsome piece of brass artillery. On the 11th of April preceding, 
Major Tallmadge had written to General Washington, wherein he says: — " At 
Lloyd's Neck it is supposed are assembled about eight hundred men, chiefly ref- 
ugees or deserters from our army. Of this number there may be about four hun- 
dred and fifty or five hundred properly armed. Their naval squadron consists 
of one vessel of sixteen guns, two small privateers, and a galley. About eight 
miles east of Lloyd's Neck, they have a post at Tredwell's Bank, of about one 
hundred and forty men, chiefly wood-cutters, armed. I have seen an accurate 
draft of this post and works." He believed that if two frigates should enter the 
Sound in the absence of the British fleet, and at the same time a suitable body of 
troops were embarked in boats, the posts might be cut ofT; and he offered to aid 



TOWN OP BROOKHAVEN. 291 

or direct an enterprise for such an object. To this proposition the commander- 
in-chief replied as follows : 

" New-Windsor, April 8, 1781. 
" Sir. — The success of the supposed enterprise must depend on the absence of 
the British fleet, the secrecy of the attempt, and a knowledge of the exact situa- 
tion of the enemy. If, after you have been at the westward, the circumstances 
from your intellif^ence shall still appear favorable, you will be at liberty to be the 
bearer of a letter to the Count de Rochambeau, to whose determination I have 
referred the matter. Your's, &c., 

" G. WASHrNGTON." 

Nothing more is heard of this matter till the July following, when the Count 
de Barras, haviug no employment for his squadron at Newport, detached for 
this service three frigates, with two hundred and fifty land troops, the whole 
under the command oftlie Baron d'Angely. The detachment sailed on the 10th 
of July, and was joined in the Sound by several boats, with a few volunteers and 
pilots from Fairfield. But it was soon evident that the fort on Lloyd's Neck was 
much stronger than had been supposed, and not to be carried without the help of 
cannon, which had not been provided. The party, after a few shots from the 
fort, re-embarked, having two or three killed and wounded. Among those mor- 
tally wounded was Heathcote Muirson, tlie individual so favorably mentioned 
by General Washington in his letter to Major Tallmadge inserted above. He 
was a son of Dr. Muirson of Setauket, and had graduated at Yale College in 1776. 
His death, as may well be supposed, was a source of grief to all who were ac- 
quainted with his many amiable qualities. 

After the affair of Fort Slongo, Major Tallmadge returned to the neighborhood 
of White Plains, where he found full employment, in guarding the inhabitants 
against the refugee corps under Co'. De Lancey, and the cow-boys and skinners 
who infested the lines. In the course of the ensuing winter he took his station 
on the Sound, and arranged another plan to beat up the enemy's quarters on Long 
Island; but a violent storm prevented its being carried into effect ; he succeeded 
however, in capturing many of the enemy's vessels engaged in illicit trade be- 
tween the opposite shores, and several cargoes of valuable goods were taken and 
condemned. The secret correspondence conducted by Major Tallmadge, during 
several years, within the British lines, has been before alluded to. And when 
the American army was about to enter the city of New-York after the peace, he 
entered before it was evacuated by the British, that he might afford protection to 
those who were the secret friends of their country, and who otherwise would have 
been exposed to ill-treatment, as refugees ortories. He retired from the army with 
the rank of colonel. He was for several years treasurer, and afterwards president, 
of the Cincinnati Society. In March, 1784, he married Mary, daughter of Ge- 
neral William Floyd of Mastic ; and by her had several children , one of whom 
is the Hon. Frederick A. Tallmadge, a senator of the State of New- York. In 
1800 Col. Tallmadge was chosen a representative in congress from Connecticut, 
having previously established himself in extensive mercantile business at Litch- 
field. He was, while in congress, during eight successive elections, a firm and 
judicious member of that body, and watchful over the political interest of a coun- 
try, whose independence he had so nobly contributed to achieve. After sixteen 
years of service in tlic national legislature, he declined a re-election, and retired 



292 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

to private life. To public objects of benevolence he gave largely and freely. 
He died, beloved and venerated for his services and worth, March 7th, 1835. 

We cannot conclude our account of this town without mentioning three other 
individuals, natives of Brookhaven, who, by their virtues and talents, do credit to 
the place of their birth, and therefore deserve honorable notice in the history of 
Long Island. 

Henry S. Mount, Shepherd A. Mount, William S. Mount, three brothers, 
artists, are sons of tlie late Thomas S. Mount of Setauket ; their mother, a 
daughter of the late Major Jonas Hawkins of Stony-Brook. These ingenious 
young gentlemen have been respectfully mentioned by Mr. Dunlap in his His- 
tory of the Arts of Design, and from which the following particulars are princi- 
pally extracted : 

Henry S. Mount, the eldest, served an apprenticeship at the business of sign- 
painting with the late Lewis Child of New-York, and has long been acknow- 
ledged equal to any individual in that branch of the arts, which he still pursues 
as his main occupation. He iias besides exhibited veiy considerable talent in 
portrait painting, and more especially in pictures of still-life. He is a student of 
the National Academy of Design, and has frequently produced pictures in the 
gallery of Clinton Hall which have elicited high praise from the most eminent 
judges, and been the subject of general admiration. 

Shkpherd a. Mount, the next brother, v/as brought up to the coach-making 
business in the city of New-Haven, and immediately on completing his appren- 
ticeship, turned his attention to portrait-painting, which he has pursued with such 
brilliant success, as to make it his principal pursuit; indulging, however, occasion- 
ally in landscape and design, in which his fine taste for coloring has enabled him 
to produce very handsome specimens. Many of his late portraits possess great 
excellence, not only as correct and faithful delineations of personal features, but 
also as highly finished pictures. He is likewise a student of the National Aca- 
demy, and does equal credit to himself and the institution with which he is asso- 
ciated. 

William S. MotJNT,the junior of these brothers, was born at Setauket, Novem- 
ber 26, 1807, and put at an early age, with his brother, at sign-painting, which 
he soon relinquished for a higher department of the arts. He has displayed, 
(says Mr. Dunlap,) uncommon talent, both in fancy pictures (or composition of 
figures,) generally rustic and comic, and at the same time in portrait-painting. 
At an early period of his career[he eagerly sought for and examined pictures by 
diflferent masters; and West's Madness of Lear anA Ophelia led him to study 
composition. His selecting these, from among many other pictures exhibited in 
the same place, is a proof of his discriminating eye and correct taste. In 1826 
lie entered a student of the NalionalAcpdemy, and at the annual exhibition he 
produced for inspection his first composition figure, Tlie Daughter of Jairus, 
which attracted much attention. His next was a Rustic Dance, still belter, 
which evinced that he had discovered the path in which he was destined to excel. 
A constant attention to drawing, a profound study of such specimens of coZo^-iwg- 
as fell in his way, with great devotion to the practice and study of design, has 
already been rewarded by a skill of uncommon grade ; and he now occupies, by 
the unanimous consent of those best able to appreciate his merits, the first 
rank in the class of humorous and domestic scenes. Besides the two admirable 
perforraancec above-named, this gentleman has produced, among other charming 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 293 

pictures, the Last Visit, the Raffle, the Courtship, the Tough -Story, the Fortune- 
Teller, the portrait of Jeremiah Johnson, Esq., in the common council-room of 
the city of Brooklyn, that of the Rev. Mr. Carmichael of Hempstead, and the 
splendid full-length of Bishop Onderdouk in the chapel of Columbia College. 

TOWN OF ISLIP. 

This town is situated upon the south side of the island, and 
centrally about forty-five miles from the city of New-York. 
Bounded on the east by Brookhaven ; on the south by the bay ; 
on the west by Huntington ; and on the north by Smithtown 
and Brookhaven. It extends east and west about sixteen miles 
and has a medial width of eight miles. Most of the territory 
lies between the south and middle country roads as formerly 
travelled, including Ronkonkoma Pond and a part of the set- 
tlement of Hoppogues. More than half the lands of the town 
is embraced by the boundaries of Nicolls' Patent. The town 
received its name from the first European settlers, many of 
whom came from Islip, in Oxfordshire, England. The country 
was at that time thickly populated by Indians, from whom 
the lands were purchased. The Secatogue tribe claimed the 
lands west of the Connetquot River, and from whom purcha- 
ses were made ; while the soil on the east was bought from 
Winnequaheagh, Sachem of Cannetquot, a semi-tribe or fa- 
mily inhabiting the sides of that stream in 1683. Judging 
from the great abundance of the necessaries of life, and other 
local advantages enjoyed by these people, it is reasonable to 
infer, that at some period their numbers must have been very 
great ; yet they seem to have been of a pacific character, and 
at the settlement of the white inhabitants, manifested a friendly 
disposition, and instances of hostility were very rare. They 
have now disappeared entirely, leaving nothing but extensive 
shell banks, here and there, to acquaint us of their previous 
existence. In consequence of the number of swamps and 
streams which intersect the town, and thereby impeding the 
travel on the south side from east to west, tliere were few in- 
ducements for settlers ; accordingly we find that the increase 
of population was very gradual, and no town meeting was 
held previous to the year 1700, although the town began to be 



294 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

settled as early as 1666, being several years later than any 
other town upon Long Island. The very valuable neck of 
land, now owned by Dr. Udall and the Willett family, is still 
called by the name of ;S'eca^o^^?^e,and was probably the residence 
of the Sachem and a considerable portion of the Indian tribe. 
Before the construction of bridges over the larger streams, the 
travel was necessarily confined to the interior of the island, 
and occasioned a great number of roads to be marked out, 
which were afterwards abandoned, and no traces of many of 
them are now to be discovered; thereby, in some instances 
producing confusion and uncertainty in relation to boundaries, 
which were frequently very loosely expressed, and almost im- 
possible to be satisfactorily ascertained. It has been conjec- 
tured, and not without reason, that the separation of the oak 
and pine timber was assented to by the Indian tribes inhabiting 
the north and south sides of the island, as the dividing line 
between their respective territories ; this was considered to be 
about the middle of the island, consequently many roads near 
this imaginary boundary would acquire the common designa- 
tion of middle or country roads, although one or more miles 
from each other, in particular places. If any patent was ever 
issued for lands in this town, exclusive of that to Mr. Nicolls in 
1684 and others confirmatory thereof, it has not been disco- 
vered. The records now existing in the clerk's office of the 
town commence with the year 1720, and the first town meet- 
ing was held in April of that year. The want of any previous 
documents may be accounted for by the fact of a great part 
being the property of a single individual, and the population of 
the remaining portion of the town very thinly settled, con- 
sequently no necessity existed for town meetings. The mi- 
nutes of the first meeting for town purposes are as follows : 

At a meeting of the said Precinct the first tuesday of April, 
being the sixth year of the reign of our sovreign Lord George 
the first over Great Britain, Anno. Dom. 1720, it was by a ma" 
jor vote, then and there declared and agreed as followeth : 

Benjamin Nicolls, Supervisor. 

Thomas VVillets and John Moubray, Assessors. 

Isaac Willetts, Collector ; and James Saxton, Constable." 




TOWN OF ISLIP. 



295 



The names of the freeholders of the town at that time were 
as follows : 



Benjamin Nicolls 
Thomas Willeta 
John Moubray 
Isaac Willets 
Daniel Akerly 
Josepeh Dow 
John Moger 
James Saxton 
"William Gibb 
George PhillijDS, Jun. 



John Arthur 
Amos Powell 
John Smith 
Samuel Muncy 
William Green 
Richard Willets 
William Nicolls 
Anning Moubray 
Joseph Saxton 
James Morris 



Israel Howell 
John Scudder 
Annanias Carll 
Stephen White 
Amos Willeta 
Daniel Phillips 
Joseph Udall 
Samuel Tillotson. 



The extensive domain known as Nicolls' Patent, includes 
more than sixty square miles of land, and has, since its first 
purchase from the natives, by successive entailment, been pre- 
served as one estate. It was obtained from the Indians in 1683 
by William Nicolls, and is described in the conveyance there- 
for, as "all thatneck, tract, piece, or parcel of land on the south 
side of Long Island, bounded on the cast by a certain river, 
called Conetquot ; on the south by the Sound, (bay ;) on the 
west by a certain river called Cantasquntah ; and on the north 
by a right line from the head of the said river called Conetquot, 
to the head of the said river called Cantasquntah ; to have 
and to hold the said neck, piece, or parcel of land and premi- 
ses, with all and singular the appurtenances, unto the said 
William Nicolls, his heirs and assigns for ever ;" and for which 
a patent of confirmation was granted by Governor Dongan on 
the 5th of December, 1684. Letters patent were likewise issued 
on the 1st of November, 1686, corroborating the former, and 
including, moreover, "a certain other piece or parcel of land and 
meadow ground unimproved, and not as yet granted to any 
person whatsoever, being bounded on the east by the lands of 
the said William Nicolls, on the south by the Sound or bay, on 
the west by a certain creek or river called or known by the 
name of Wingatthappagh, and on the north by a right line 
from the head of the said creek or river, called Conetquot.''^ 
And on the 20th of February, 1697, another patent was issued 
to the said William Nicholls, by Governox Fletcher, for land as 
follows, to wit : 



296 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

"A certain jiarcel of vacant unimproved land, in part adjoining the land of 
said Nicolls and of Andrew Gibb, bounded easterly by a brook or river to the 
westward of a point called Blue-Point, known by the Indian name of Manow- 
tassqiwtt, and a north and by east line from the head of said river to the country 
road ; thence alono; the old road westerly until it bears north and by east, to the 
head of Ovawake river; and thence by a south and west line to the head of the 
said river, and so running; easterly along by the land of said Nicolls and Gibb, to 
the head of Conetquot, and down said river to the Sound ; and from thence along 
the sound easterly to the mouth of the Manowtassquot aforesaid ; together with 
a certain fresh pond called Raco7ickomy Pojid." 

Ronkonkoma Pond, in the north-west part of the town, is a 
beautiful and picturesque sheet of water, which from its location 
is an object of much curiosity, and in magnitude almost deserving 
to be called a lake. It is more than three miles in circumference, 
and situated near the geographical centre of Long Island. Its 
shape is nearly circular, the water perfectly clear and of great 
depth. Those who have lived long in the neighborhood as- 
sert, that there is an undeviating septennial rise and fall of the 
water in this pond, which, if true, is a phenomenon well worthy 
the investigation of the geologist and philosopher. It is enclosed 
by a narrow beach of the purest white sand, which circum- 
stance, it is said, gave occasion for its Indian appellation, the 
translation of which into English is sand-pond. It abounds 
with fish of various kinds, of which the most prevalent is the 
^rellow perch. Some of these were in 1790 transferred by Dr. 
Mitchill to the waters of Success-Pond in Q,neen's County. 
It is difficult to conceive an object more gratifying to the lover 
of nature, the admirer of beautiful scenery, than this pond, 
which being in the midst of an extensive forest, the stranger, 
on first beholding its placid and silvery surface, is inspired 
with rapture and delight. The extensive forests which border 
upon this pond, are stocked with herds of deer, who, when 
hard pressed by the sportsman and his dogs, often, as a last re- 
sort, betake themselves to the water in the hope of escape ; but 
this resource avails them not ; boats are procured, and the poor 
terror-stricken animals are soon overtaken and destroyed. 
Notwithstanding a great many of these interesting creatures 
are every year sacrificed for the enjoyment of the hunter, their 
numbers are not sensibly diminished ; the great range afforded 
them, and the almost impenetrable morasses in which they may 
be in a measure secure from attack, allows opportunity for in- 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 297 

crease ; and however much persons of refined sensibilities may 
deprecate the seeming cruelty of this fashionable amusement, 
there will always be found individuals not merely to justify the 
practice, but even ready to join in it with an ardor and enthu- 
siasm known only to sportsmen. 

The surface of this town is level and destitute of stone, the 
soil li^ht and sandy, with a slight mixture of loam in different 
places. T'he meadows are very abundant, and yield an im- 
mense quantity of the best sedge and salt grass. The bay on 
the south is four or five mile wide, containing an inexhaustible 
variety of fish, and is visited by a countless number of wild- 
fowl, such as geeese, ducks, brant, &c., at almost all seasons of 
the year. The sea-weed and fish procured from the bay, and 
manure made by stock, constitute the main articles used for 
fertilizing the soil ; and many farms by this means are render- 
ed highly productive and profitable. The population of the 
town is chiefly confined to the south country road, and in the 
western part of the town forms an almost continuous village. 
Mills have been erected on the principal streams, and the water- 
power is sufficient for more, should interest or necessity require 
their erection. The different necks of land, as well as the 
brooks and small rivers, had formerly distinct and appropriate 
Indian names, which are preserved in ancient deeds, and well 
known to some of the older inhabitants. Till within a few 
years there was but one house for public worship in the town. 
This is a grotesque looking edifice, of small dimensions and 
singular shape, standing upon the country road near the middle 
of Nicolls' Patent. It was erected in the year 1766, principal- 
ly, if not entirely, at the expense of the (then) opulent proprietor 
of that immense estate. In the cemetery adjoining the church, 
which is called ^S*^. John's Episcopal Church, is a monu- 
mental tablet, upon which is the following inscription, com- 
memorative of the amiable qualities of the late owner of 
Nicolls' Patent : 

'• Sacred to the memory of William Nicolls. Hospitality, cha- 
rity, and good-will toward his fellow-man, were the marked charac- 
ters of his life ; and a perfectly resigned submission to the will of 
his Creator distinguished the sincere Christian at the hour of death, 
which took place, Nov. 20, 1823, 

" iE. 24." 

38 



298 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

There are numerous islands situate in the bay, belonging to 
this town, the most important of whicli are the Fire Islands, 
and give name to the principal inlet by which vessels enter the 
bay. Upon the main beach near this inlet, a substantial light- 
house was erected in 1825, at an expense of eight thousand 
dollars, and is what is called an eclipsed light. The beach op- 
posite this town, which belongs to Brookhaven, has, since the 
settlement of the white people, experienced many and extraor- 
dinary changes, exposed as it is to the never-ceasing action of 
the winds and waves of the ocean. In the trial of an import- 
ant cause some years since, one Jacob Seaman, an aged inha- 
bitant, testified that about the year 1764 the ocean made a 
breach through the beach between Fire Island Inlet and Gil- 
go Gut, and formed the island now called Cedar Island, by 
the mass of sand washed into the bay. Isaac Thompson, Esq., 
one of the judges of the county, spoke also of a gut formerly 
existing, called Huntington Gut, between Cedar Island and 
Oak Island, wliich has entirely disappeared, and the place 
become solid beach. John Arthur, an old man, had been told, 
when a boy, that Fire Isla7id Inlet broke through after the 
purchase made by Mr. NicoUs in 1683^ and was at that time 
called the New Gut. Col. Floyd stated, that about sixty years 
before 1814, there were seven inlets east of Fire Island Inlet, 
which were from a quarter to half a mile wide. Dr, Udall, an 
aged and respectable physician, stated that he had heard David 
Willets, an old man, then deceased, declare that Fire Island 
Inlet was formerly called the Great Gut, and sometimes Nine- 
mile Gut, because when it first broke through, it was tiine 
oniles icide. Thi^ is supposed to have occurred in the year 
1691. In the year 1773 the Fire Islands were not as they 
now are, but a mere sand-spit, producing only a few patches of 
salt grass, and were called Seal Islands. 

From the New-York Gazette, June 4, I78L "A number of whale-boats got 
into the South Bay, near Islip, from Connecticut, and took off one vessel and 
plundered some others. They also robbed several people on shore. This induc- 
ed a royal party of militia to follow the crews of the boats down to Canoe- 
Place, where they surprised them, killed one, wounded another, and made the 
whole party prisoners, with four boats and thirty stand of arms ; a part of the 
pirates were subsequently confined in a sugar-houae in New-York." 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 299 

J^eW'York Magazine, July, 1803. " On the 28lh of September, 1801, a ser- 
pent, of a species unknown to the people there, was killed in a swamp at Islip. 
Its length was seven feet, and of proportional thickness. It was on the belly 
and sides of a straw color ; on the back were thirty-six black spots, reaching 
from the head to the tail, and on each side of this row were other dark brown 
spots. It had no fangs or biting-teeth, and was therefore not venomous. In the 
lower part of the mouth was a ccnsiderahle fleshy portion like a tongue, which 
terminated in a long bicuspidated projection. It had scuta both on the belly and 
tail, which amounted to about three hundred. From these characters it is evi- 
dent that it belonged to the genus Boa ; the number of the scuta so exactly cor- 
responding to the species termed constrictor, and is said in India to grow to the 
length of thirty feet, and to be capable of destroying the largest animals by en- 
twining itself about the body of its victims." 

From the same. " The glow-worm is a native of Long Island, and made its 
appearance at Islip in October, 1802, in moist places, beside fences and under 
locust trees. Their light is on the tail or posterior portion of the body, like that 
of the fire-fly or lightning-bug (lampyrus). At times, seemingly optional with 
the animal, it was kindled to a remarkable brightness. On some of the fine eve- 
nings of October, the appearance of these glow-worms (cicindela,) lying thick 
among the grass, was like that of burning coals, and made a brilliant exhibition, 
as they bespangled the ground. This animal neither stings nor bites, is nearly 
an inch long, and resembles the millipedes in shape." 

In connection with the history of this town, it may not be unacceptable to the 
reader to have a brief account of the first proprietor of the extensive domain known 
by the general designation oiJ^icolls' Patent. 

William Nicolls was the son of Mathias Nicolls, descended from an ancient 
and honorable family at Islip, in Oxfordshire, England ; and came to America 
with his uncle, Richard Nicolls, commander of the expedition sent to reduce New- 
York from the possession of the Dutch government, in 16G4, and was the first go- 
vernor of the colony under the Duke of York. Mathias Nicolls was immediately 
appointed secretary of the colony and a member of the council. He was like- 
wise authorized, ex officio, to preside with the justices in the courts of Sessions 
of the several ridings organized after the conquest. In 1672 he was chosen 
mayor of New- York, and after the act of 1683, remodelling the courts of justice, 
he was appointed one of the judges of the colony. In this capacity he ofliciated 
for the last time in Queen's County, Sept. 12, 1687, a short time before his death. 
He maJo several purchases of land on Little Neck and Great Neck in Q,ueen's 
County, which, in 1687, he conveyed or devised to his son William, the subject 
of this iiolice, uiid which he disposed of afterwards to different persons. In 1718 
he conveyed twelve hundred acres upon that part of Cow Neck called Plandome, 
to Joseph Latham, for two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds, in the deed 
for which there is a special reservation of sixty square feet, where he states his 
father, Mathias Nicolls, lies buried. 

It is presumed that William Nicolls was born in England, and came over, 
when a boy, with his father, in 1664. He was well educated, and having chosen 
the profession of the law, acquired a high standing at the New- York bar. He 
was appointed the first clerk of Queen's County in 1683, which he held till his 
removal to the city in 1638. In 1683 he made his first purchase of land at Islip, 
which, with others subsequently acquired, were confirmed in 1697 by a patent 



300 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

of Col. Fletcher, who was distinguished for his extravagant grants of the public 
lands. 

In 1704 Mr. NicoUs became the proprietor of a tract of land on Shelter Island, 
by virtue of a devise in the will of Giles Sylvester, comprehending a large pro- 
portion of that island. He was a warm friend of liberty, and friendly to the 
revolution in favor of William and Mary, but was opposed to the arbitrary and 
impolitic measures which were adopted by Leisler, rather, it would seem, to secure 
his authority than to advance tlie interests of the revolution. In consequence of 
his disapprobation of the course pursued by Leisler, he was imprisoned, as well 
as others who had courage and honesty enough to avow their sentiments in rela- 
tion to public affairs. In March, 1691, Governor Slaughter having arrived, 
called Leisler to account, liberated Nicolls and other state prisoners, and settled 
the foundations of the future government of the colony. March 23d, he appointed 
Mr. Nicolls a member of the council; and in 1695 he was sent to England by 
the assembly, as the agent of the colony to solicit the interference of the crown 
for enforcing the contributions which had been allotted to the other colonies in 
defence of the country against the encroachments of the French, (which fell with 
unequal weight upon the colony of New-York;) and for which service the 
assembly allowed him $1000. In 1698 he was suspended from the council by the 
new o-overnor, the Earl of Bellamont, who, on his arrival, seems to have embraced 
the views and adopted the feelings of the Leislerian party, and exerted his 
official influence to crush their opponents. In 1701 he was elected a member of 
assembly for the county of Suffolk; but not being a resident of the county as 
required by law, he was not suffered to retain his seat. To avoid a similar 
result, it is supposed he fixed his residence permanently on Great Neck, in Islip, 
which afterwards became the principal seat of the family. In 1702 he was again 
elected a member of assembly for Suffolk, and was by the house elected their 
speaker^ He was from that time regularly elected a member of every succeeding 
assembly till his death, and was also re-elected speaker. In 1718 he resigned the 
speaker's chair on account of his health, which seems to have prevented his 
attendance for the few last years of his life. 

He was a member of assembly twenty-one years in succession, and speaker 
sixteen years of the time. On the 30th of March, 1691, he was employed with 
James Emmot and George Farrawell, as king's council, to conduct the prosecu- 
tion against Leisler and his associates; and he was also one of the council 
employed by Nicholas Bayard in March, 1702, in his defence against a political 
prosecution instituted by Nanfan, the lieutenant-governor, and pursued with all 
the violence and bitterness of party rancor, for circulating and signing petitions 
to the king and parliament, in which the abuses of power by his Honor and his 
friends were enumerated: a report of which case is published in the state trials 
of that year. He was also one of the council employed in the defence of Francis 
McKemie, a Presbyterian clergyman, in June, 1707, who was indicted for 
preaching ; which was brought about by the bigotry of the governor. Lord Corn- 
bury: a narrative of which is contained in a pamphlet published in New- York 
in 1755. He was twice married. One of his wives was Anna Van Rensselaer, 
daughter of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Esq., and widow of Killian Van Renssel- 
aer, who wad the heir of the original proprietor of the manor of Rensselaerwick. 

Mr. NichoUs served in the assembly at a period when the colony was divided 
into bitter parties, and when a variety of interesting questions occurred between 



TOWN OF ISLIP. 301 

the governors and assembly, which affected the rights and independence of the 
assembly. On all these questions he was on the side of the assembly, and 
appears to have been uniformly friendly to the principles of freedom ; both in 
his professional and political employments he was a firm and decided friend 
to the rights of the people and to the best interests of the colony. He died in 
1723 or '24, and left a number of children. Several of his descendants have been 
distinguished by public stations. His eldest son Benjamin settled at Islip, and 
married Charity, daughter of Richard Floyd, by whom he had two sons, 
William and Benjamin. He died young; and his widow married the Rev. 
Doctor Johnson of Stratford, who was afterwards president of the college at 
New-York, under whose care her two sons received a liberal education. William 
inherited the estate of his father, and remained at Islip ; Benjamin settled in 
New-York, and acquired a distinguished rank at the bar. William Nicolls the 
second, the second son of Mr. Nicolls, (to wliom he devised his estate on Shelter 
Island,) was also educated a lawyer, and was a man of talents. He was a 
member of assembly for the county of Suffolk for twenty-nine years in succes- 
sion; and during the last nine years was speaker of the house He was first 
elected in 1739, and was re-elected a member of every succeeding assembly till his 
death. It is supposed that he died in the spring of 1768. The governor. Sir 
Henry Moore, dissolved the assembly February 6th, 1768 ; and the tradition is, 
that he was taken sick on his journey home, and died at a house on Hempstead 
Plains. He much resrimbled his father in his political sentiments, and was also 
a decided friend to the rights of the colonies. He is supposed to have concurred 
in the addresses to the king, lords, and commons, which were adopted by the 
assembly in 1764 and 1765, and which he signed as their speaker. These ad- 
dresses abound with patriotic sentiments. In that of 1764 they say that " It 
would be the basest vassalage to be taxed at the pleasure of a fellow-subject." 
In that of 1765 they assert that " An assumption of power by the British par- 
liament to tax the colonies, if acquiesced in or admitted, would make them mere 
tenants at will of his Majesty's subjects in Britain." This gentleman died a 
bachelor, and his estate descended to William Nicolls the third, the eldest son of 
his brother Benjamin. William Nicolls the third, (commonly called Lawyer 
Nicolls,) was appointed clerk of the county of Suffolk in 1750, and continued to 
hold that office till his death, March 29, 1780. During the last four years of his 
life the administration of justice was suspended by the war, and the oftice was of 
course without profit. It is said that sometime before his death he labored under 
a partial paralysis, which disqualified him for business. His last entry upon the 
records was made November 8, 1776. In March, 1768, he was elected a membei* 
of assembly for the county of Suffolk, with Eleazer Miller, to supply the vacancy 
occasioned by the death of his uncle. That assembly being dissolved January 
2d, 1769, he was again elected in March, 1769, with Col. WoodhuU, a member 
for Suffolk. This was the last assembly under tlie colonial government, and con- 
tinued till it was superseded by the provincial congress or convention, which met 
in May, 1775. During the period of this assembly, the disputes between the 
mother country and the colonies arrived at a crisis. The time for action had 
arrived ; and the question, whether the colonists were to be vassals of the British 
parliament or enjoy the rights of freemen, was to be decided by force. The 
prospect of a conflict so unequal, in which the result was so doubtful, staggered 
many who were friendly to the colonies. The occasion required all the zeal and 



302 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

energy of the most ardent patriotism. Col. Woodhull v/as qualified for the crisis, 
and met it without dismay; Mr. NicoUs was less energetic and decisive. 

Admitting that he was decided in his opposition to the measures of parlia- 
ment, yet it must be conceded that he wanted the energy and boldness of his 
grandfather and uncle, either of whom, judging from the course they took on 
other occasions involving similar principles, would have been at the head of the 
opposition. This gentleman left two sons, William and Benjamin. He devised 
his estate (m Shelter Island to his son Benjamin, and his large estate at Islip to 
his son William; which, with the exception of a few farms which the legislature 
of the state of New- York thought proper to take out of the course of the law, by 
limitations in his will, after passing three descents, continues undiminished in 
the family. The last-named William Nicolls remained upon the estate at Islip, 
and died at an early age in the year 1799. His son, the late William Nicolls, 
was born after the decease of his father, and at the age of twenty-one came into 
possession of the estate in fee. Upon his death intestate in 1823, it descended to 
his three children as tenants in common. 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 

This town, at first called Smithfield, was originally convej'-ed 
to Lyon Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, in 1659, by Wyan- 
danch, chief Sachem of Long Island, in grateful remembrance 
for kindness shown to the Sachem in the redemption of his 
daughter from her captivity among the hostile Indians across 
the Sound. It is bounded north by the Sound, east by Brook- 
haven, south by Islip, and west by Huntington ; and lies upon 
both sides of Nesaquake River. In 1663 it was sold by Mr. 
Gardiner to Richard Smith, the common ancestor of the nume- 
rous families of the name of Smith, in this tovvn and elsewhere, 
by which he became proprietor of most of the lands now con- 
stituting the town of Smithtown ; the title being confirmed to 
him by the Nesaquake Indians in 1662 ; and for which a pa- 
tent of confirmation or assurance was obtained from Go- 
vernor Nicolls the same year. In the succeeding year 
Mr. Smith procured a further grant from the Nesaquake 
Sachem, for a tract of land upon the west side of that river, 
for which, including his former purchase, a second patent 
was issued by the Governor on the 25th day of ]March, 1667, 
in which the boundaries are recited as follows : " Easterly 
by a certain run of water called Stony Brook, stretching 
north to the Sound, and southerly bearing to a certain fresh- 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 303 

water pond called Ronkonkoma, being Seatalcott's west bounds ; 
which said parcel of land was heretofore granted by patent 
to Richard Smith by the said Richard Nicolls." The omis- 
sion of a western boundary in this patent may have in 
part induced a controversy which ensued between the town of 
Huntington and Mr. Smith, concerning the title to lands upon 
the west side of Nesaquake River. This controversy, after be- 
ing protracted for some time, was eventually decided before the 
court of assize held at New-York in 1675, and resulted in fa- 
vor of Mr. Smith ; and in order to establish his claim beyond 
dispute, a new patent was granted, according to his desire, a 
year or two after, by tiis Excellency, Governor Andross, as 
follows : 

■' Edmund Andross, Esquire, Seigneur of Sausniares, Lieutenant and Governor- 
General under his Royall Highness, James, Duke of York and Albany, and of 
all his territories in America. 

" To all to whom these presents shall come, sendeth greeting. 
********** Whereas there is a certain parcell of land scituate, lying, and be- 
t L. S. J ing, in the east-riding of York-shire upon Long Island, conimon- 
»t******** ly called or known by the name of Nesaquake lands, bounded 
eastward by a certain runn of water called Stony Brook, stretch- 
ing north to the Sound, and southward bearing to a certain fresh-water pond call- 
ed Raconkamuck, being Seatalcott west bounds, from thence south-westwaid 
to the head of Nesaquake River, and so along the said river as it runns unto the 
Sound. Also another parcell or tract of land on the west side of the said river, 
extending to the westernmost part of Joseph Whitman's Hollow, as also to the 
west side of Leading-Hollow to the fresh pond Unshemamuck, and the west of that 
pond att high-water mark, and so to the Sound, being Huntington east bounds; 
which said parcell or tract of land, on the east side of Nesaquake River, was 
heretofore granted by patent unto Richard Smith, the present possessor, by Coll. 
Richard Nicolls, and to his heyres and assigns forever ; as also that on the west 
side of said river ; with some provisoes and restrictions, the which has since, by 
due course of law att the General Court of Assizes, held in the year 1G75, been 
recovered by the said Richard Smith from the town of Huntingtoti. Know yee, 
that by virtue of his Maties letters patent, and the commission and authority un- 
to me given by his Royall Highness, have rattifyed, confirmed and granted, 
and by these presents do rattify, confirm, and grant unto the said Richard Smith, 
his heyres and assigns, the aforesaid parcells or tracts of land on both sides the 
Nesaquake R.iver. Together with all the lands, soyles, woods, meadows, pas- 
tures, marshes, lakes, waters, fishing, hawking, hunting, and fowling; and all 
other profits, commodities, and emoluments to the said parcells of land and pre- 
mises belonging, with their and every of their appurtenances ; and every part 
and parcell thereof To have and to hold the sayd parcells or tracts of land and 
premises, with all and singular the appurtenances, unto the said Richard Smith, 
his heyres and assigns, to the proper use and behoof of him, the said Richard 



304 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Smith, his heyresaiid assigns for ever. The tenure of the said land and premi- 
ses to bee according to the custom of the manor of East Greenwich, in the county 
of Kent, in England, in free and connnon soccage and by fealty only. As also 
that the said place bee as a township, and bee called and known by the name of 
Smithfield or Smithtown, by which name to be distinguished in all bargains and 
sales, deeds, records, and writings. The said Richard Smith, his heyres and 
assigns, making due improvement on the land afore-mentioned, and continuing 
in obedience and conforming himself according to the laws of this government; 
and yielding and paying therefor, yearly and every year, unto his Royall High- 
ness's use, as an acknowlegeraent or quit-rent, one good fatt lamb, unto such offi- 
cer or officers as shall be empowered to receive the same. Given under my hand, 
and sealed with the seal of the province in New-York, this 25th day of March, 
in the twenty-ninth year of his Mat'es reign, Anno Dom., 1677. 

"E. Andross." 

Richard Smith, the patentee above named, arrived at Boston 
from England in the year 1650, where he married, and remain- 
ed till 1655, when he came with a number of emigrants to 
Long Island, and was one of the first proprietors of Brookha- 
ven. He lived at Setauket several years. The records of the 
town sufficiently indicate that he was not only an active, intel- 
ligent individual, but was a leading character and a magistrate. 
After his removal to Smithtown, he sold most of his lands there, 
the conveyances for which are recorded in a book now in the 
office of the county clerk. His death took place at an advanc- 
ed age, about the close of the seventeenth century. Only a 
small part of his great real estate was disposed of during his 
life. Some time after his decease, in the year 1707, his chil- 
dren, whose names were Richard, Jonathan, Job, Adam, Sam- 
uel, Daniel, and Deborah, made application to the court of as- 
sizes held at New- York, for the appointment of commissioners 
to make a division of the remaining lands among them ; where- 
upon the court appointed Richaid WoodhuU of Brookhaven, 
John Hallock of Southold, and George Townsend of Oys- 
ter-Bay, to make the partition required. This commission 
was duly executed, and the division made was subsequently 
confirmed by the court in the same year. It is probable that 
horses were very rare during the first settlement of this town, 
or that they had not as yet been introduced ; which accounts for 
Mr. Smith's having made use of a large bull for many purposes 
for which horses were afterwards used, which occasioned him 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 305 

to be designated as the bull-rider, and his posterity to this day as 
the Bull Smiths^ while the descendants of Col. William Smith 
of Brookhaven are as familiarly known as the Tangier Smiths, 
he having once filled the office of governor of Tangier. There 
are also upon the island two other distinct races or families by 
the name of Smith, the one called Rock Smiths and the other 
Blue Smiths, the origin of which is matter of conjecture. 
Many singular traits of character, and not a few strange stories, 
are related concerning this famous progenitor of the Smiths of 
Smithtown, the records of which have too much the semiblance 
of fiction to be worth perpetuating. 

The area of this town is nearly ten miles square. The sur- 
face on the north is a good deal broken and hilly, while on the 
south it is nearly a level plain. The soil is generally good, 
and well cultivated. The timber is abundant, and has long 
been a staple article of exportation. The Nesaquake River is 
the only considerable stream in the town ; commencing in the 
southern part of it, and running a northerly course to the har- 
bor adjoining the Sound. The population is much scattered 
over the surface, but there are, nevertheless, several plea- 
sant vicinages in different parts, which deserve particular men- 
tion. The most considerable village is that called the Branch, 
which is centrally situated upon the middle country road, and 
where the public business of the town is usually transacted. 
Here is a tavern, post-office, store, and about a dozen dwellings, 
owned principally by farmers. The Presbyterian church was 
originally built in 1750, and the present more modern edifice 
in 1823. It is probable that a church existed in some part of 
the town previous to 1750, as the records thereof mention 
that on the 13th day of February, 1717, Richard Smith and 
his four brothers gave a tract of land upon the west side of 
Nesaquake River to Daniel Taylor, in consideration of his 
having agreed to labor among the people in the work of the 
ministry for four years. 

Between the Branch and Stony-Brook is a small, but neat 
hamlet, called Mills' Pond, consisting of a few houses arrang- 
ed about the borders of a pond, used as a common watering for 
cattle. At the head of Stony- Brook harbor is another consider- 

39 



306 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

able settlement, and one other upon either side of Nesaquake 
river, a few miles from the Sound. On the east side of this 
river, and near the residence of the late Richard Smith, was the 
dwelling-place of his ancestor, the patentee of the town ; and 
this was probably the site of the principal settlement of the 
Nesaquake tribe, as well as of the Sachem. At the head of 
boat navigation upon this river, is the village called the Head 
of the River, which has long been a place of considerable busi- 
ness, having several valuable mills and machinery, employed 
for various mechanical purposes. In the north-west part of the 
town is another settlement, called Fresh-Ponds, where there 
is a Presbyterian church, in which the Rev. Joshua Hart offi- 
ciated pastor from the year 1792, till his death a few years since. 
On the southern limit of the town is the neighborhood of Hop- 
pogues, where a Methodist church has been erected for several 
years. Here is the residence of the Hon. Joshua Smith, who 
has frequently represented the county in the legislature, and 
held the office of first judge of the common pleas from 1823 to 
1828. 

The first minister of this town of whom any record has been 
preserved, was the Rev. Abner Reeve. He was a native of 
Southold, and graduated at Yale College in 1731. He was 
employed in tliis town in the year 1735, but whether settled or 
not, is not certainly known. He subsequently preached at 
Westhampton, Fire-Place, and Huntington, without being 
regularly settled in either. He removed, in 1750, to Blooming- 
Grove in Orange County, and from thence to Brattleborough in 
Vermont, where he died. He was an amiable man and a good 
scholar, but wavering in his disposition and somewhat ec- 
centric. 

His son, the late Hon. Tappen Reevk, w^s born at FHre-Place in the town of 
Brookhaven, October, 1744, and graduated at Princeton College in 1763. He here 
formed an agreeable intimacy with the daughter of president Burr and sister 
of the late Col. Burr, whom he afterwards married. He studied law in one of 
the eastern states, and entered upon his professional course at Litchfield, Con- 
necticut, in 1772. He was a firm patriot in the revolution. In 1798 he was 
appointed a judge of the superior court of that state, and afterwards chief justice, 
which office he held till 1814. He was in the practice of the law about twenty-six 
years, and was the founder of a Law Academy at Litchfield, which was the 
most useful, successful, and distinguished in this country, until the one instituted 



TOWN OF SMITHTOWN. 307 

at Harvard College under tlie auspices of Judge Story. He presided over the 
Litchfield Law School for nearly forty years, and sent forth pupils to every part 
of the United States,, richly endowed with the principles and practice of the law. 
Judge Reeve was distinguished for simplicity of manners and for purity of prin- 
ciple and conduct. At his decease, December 13, 1823, his pupils in every part 
of the country met, and passed resolutions highly favorable to his character. 
Among these meetings v/as that of the Baltimore bar, at which the Hon. Robert 
Goodloe Harper presided. The resolutions contained the warmest effusions of 
gratitude and veneration. Dr. Beecher, in his funeral oration, said of him : " I 
have never known a man who loved so many persons, and was himself beloved 
by so many." 

The Rev. Napthali Dagget was settled here in 1751. He 
was a native of Attleborough, Vermont, and jrraduated at Yale 
college in 1748, His wife was Sarah, daughter of Richard 
Smith of this town. In 1756 he removed to New-Haven, and 
accepted the professorship of divinity in Yale College ; and 
after the death of President Clapp, in 1666, he officiated as 
president till the accession of President Stiles in 1777. In 1779 
he distinguished himself by his courage and patriotism when 
the city of New-Haven was attacked by the British troops ia 
their incendiary expedition against the maritime towns of Con- 
necticut. They took him prisoner, most shamefully beat and 
insulted him, and compelled him to walk several miles in 
extreme hot weather. This savage treatment in all probability 
accelerated his death, which occurred November 25, 1780. 

The next minister of this town was the Rev. Thomas Lewis, 
of whom little is known, except that he graduated at Yale 
College in 1741, came here in 1763, and again removed in 
1769. The Rev. Joshua Hart was a native of the island, 
graduated at Princeton in 1770, settled here in 1773, in 1792 
left the church in the Branch, and settled in the parish of Fresh 
Ponds, where he continued till his death a few years since. 
He was a man of considerable powers of mind, assisted by a 
good education; and his convivial talents were such as to 
make his conversation at all times interesting and agreeable. 

The Rev. Luther Gleason, from Stillwater, Saratoga coun- 
ty, was settled here in 1797, and remained until dismissed for 
alleged misconduct in 1806 ; since when a number of clergy- 
men have been successively engaged, whose continuance has 
been for short periods. 



308 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Thomas Tredwell, Esa-, late of Plattsburgh, was a native of this town, and 
one of the most useful men of his day. He was well educated, and was distin- 
guished for firmness and prudence during the difficult and trying period of the 
revolution. He was almost constantly engaged in public business; was chosen 
a member of the provincial convention in 1775, and elected afterwards to the 
provincial congress from Long Island. He was also a member of the first 
senate of this state under the constitution, and seems to have been, in all respects, 
fitted to the perilous times in which lie lived. He received, as he merited, the 
highest testimonials of respect and confidence from his fellow-citizens on all 
occasions where judgment and perseverance were required to be exercised. He 
was the first surrogate of this county, appointed in 1787, and retained the office 
till 1791 ; soon after which he removed to Plattsburgh, and was appointed also 
the first surrogate of Clinton county, which he held till his death in 1826. 

The late President Dwight, in thejournal of his travels through this island in 
1804, has the following remarks: " The best land, (says he,) which we saw on 
this day's journey, is in and about Smithtown. Here we dined, or rather wished 
to dine ; the inn at which we stopped, and the only one on the road, not having 
the means of enabling us to satisfy our wishes. In this humble mansion, how- 
ever, we found a young laAy, about eighteen, of a fine form and complexion, a 
beautiful countenance, with brilliant eyes, animated with intelligence, possessing 
manners which were a charming mixture of simplicity and grace, and conversing 
in language which would not have discredited a drawing-room or a court. Her 
own declarations compelled us to believe, against every preconception, that she 
was a child of this very humble uneducated family. But nothing we saw in the 
house could account for the appearance of her person, mind, or manners. I was 
ready to believe, as all my companions were, when we left the spot, that some 
' Flowers are born to blush unseen, 
And waste their sweetness on the desert air." 

It may gratify the curiosity of the reader to know, that the house referred to 
was kept at that time in the Branch by Derick McCoun ; and that the young 
lady, (so highly extolled by the venerable Doctor,) was his daughter, now the 
widow of the late Major Smith of Patchogue. 

" At a town meeting, held in Smithtown, August 9th, 1774, it was resolved, 
and we do fully declare ourselves ready to enter into any public measures that 
shall be agreed upon by a general congress; and that Solomon Smith, Daniel 
Smith, and Thomas Tredwell be a committee for said town, to act in conjunction 
with committees of the other towns in this county, to correspond with the com- 
mittee of New-York ; and the said committee is fully empowered to choose a 
delegate to represent this county at the general congress; and that said commit- 
tee do all that shall be necessary in defence of our just rights and liberties against 
the unconstitutional acts of the British ministry and parliament, until another 
•committee be appointed." 

In a note to Moulton's History of New- York, it is stated, tiiat an obituary 
appeared in a newspaper, printed in 1739, of the death of a negro at Smithtown, 
Long Island, reputed to have been one hundred and forty years old, who declared 
that he well remembered when there were but three hotises in New-York. The 
memory, therefore, of this remarkable individual must have extended back to the 
first settlement of New Amsterdam, (as New- York was then called,) in 1626. 



309 

TOWN OP HUNTINGTON. 

This is the most westerly town in Suffolk County ; bounded 
on the north by the Sound, on the east by a line running from 
Fresh Ponds to the north-west angle of Winnacomac Patent, 
from thence to the creek east of Sunquam's Neck, then down 
said creek to the South Bay, and from thence south to the 
Ocean ; on the south by the Ocean ; on the west by Cold Spring 
Harbor, and by a line running from the head of the said har- 
bor to the creek west of West-Neck ; then down the said creek 
to the South Bay, and from thence southerly to a monument 
upon the beach, fixed by commissioners in 1797. Its ex- 
tent on the Sound being about ten miles, upon the South Bay 
six, and from north to south twenty miles; containing nearly 
one hundred and sixty square miles. In 1691 Horse-Neck, 
now called Lloyd's Neck, which lies within the bounds of 
Huntington Patent, was annexed to Queen's County by an act 
of the legislature, and has remained so ever since. The earliest 
deed for land, within the bounds of this town, was given by the 
Indians to Theophilus Eaton, Governor of Newhaven, for Ea- 
ton's Neck, in 1646. The first Indian deed to the original set- 
tlers of Huntington, was obtained in 1653, and comprised six 
square miles, being all the lands between Cold Spring and 
East Cow Harbor, and extending from the Sound to the old 
country road, including Horse-Neck, which, it seems, was not 
intended to be conveyed by the Indians, but was sold, in 1654, 
to three men living in Oyster-Bay. The consideration paid 
for the purchase of 1653, was six coats, six bottles, six hatchets, 
six shovels, ten knives, six fathoms of wampum, thirty muxes, 
and thirty needles ; which was no doubt considered by the 
grantors an adequate compensation. In 1656 the people of 
Huntington obtained a deed for the land extending from Cow 
Harbor to Nesaquake River, and from the Sound to the coun- 
try road. A part of the South-Necks was purchased in 1657, 
and other parts in 1658 and at subsequent periods, together 
with the lands lying south of the middle country road. The 
lands in the town were claimed by three different tribes, the 
Matin ecocks, the Massapequas, and the Secataugs. Both Wy- 



310 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



andanch, Sachem of Montauk, and the Sachem of Nesaquake, 
denied the right of the Matinecock Indians to the land between 
Cow Harbor and Nesaquake River, which they had sold to the 
people of Huntington. The conflicting claims of these differ- 
ent tribes produced a long controversy between Huntington 
and the proprietor of Smithtown, which, after an arbitration 
and several lawsuits, terminated in 1675, in a division of the 
disputed territory ; and the boundary between the towns was 
determined to be a line running from Fresh Pond to Whit- 
man's Hollow ; the north-west corner of Winnecomac Patent. 
The first settlers in all cases purchased their lands from the In- 
dians who claimed them ; the price paid was very inconsidera- 
ble, and usually consisted of blankets, clothing, fishing imple- 
ments, and sometimes of guns and ammunition, with a small 
quantity of wampum. The settlers at first only took up a 
house-lot in the village, and this is supposed to be all the land 
taken up before the first patent. Immediately after the con- 
quest of New- York in 1664, the governor ordered the pur- 
chasers of Indian lands to take out a patent for the confir- 
mation of their contracts, and forbade any further purchases 
to be made from the natives without a license from the go- 
vernment. The governor, with the advice of the council, 
had the disposition of the public lands. No purchase could be 
made without his licen.^e, and none was of any avail unless 
confirmed by patent, for which such sums were demanded as 
avarice dictated. The fees charged for patents constituted a 
perquisite of the governor, and quit-rents charged on them pro- 
duced no inconsiderable revenue to the crown. In 1666 the 
inhabitants of Huntington obtained a patent, by which the 
whole territory between Cold-Spring and Nesaquake River, 
and between the Sound and the Sea, was erected into a town, 
with town privileges ; but the patent gave no power to the in- 
habitants to purchase the lands still held by the Indians within 
the limits of the town. In 1685 the governor issued a patent 
for lands in the town, which in 1675 had been adjudged by 
the court of assize to be within the limits of the original patent, 
and in 1686 he required the inhabitants to purchase the 
lands within the town which had not been obtained of the 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 311 

Indians, in order that they might be compelled to take out new 
patents for them. The original patent was made subject to 
such quit-rent as should be afterwards fixed, and became, 
eventually, a subject of difficulty between the governor and 
the people of the town. To compel them to consent to its be- 
ing fixed according to his wishes, Governor Dongan. in 1686, 
seized their patent, and obliged them to raise £,29 45 7c?, in sat- 
isfaction of quit-rent and the expense of a new patent, which 
passed the council August 2d, 1688, and was one of the last 
acts of his administration. This last patent was similar to 
the former, and which, after 'confirming the titles to lands 
already purchased, granted all the remainder thereof with- 
in the limits of the patent (except the necks on the south side 
and the land to the north of them) absolutely to the inhabitants, 
according to their rights or shares in the original purchases, 
and also incorporated the town. The patentees named in the 
original patent, in 1666, were Jonas Wood, Robert Seely, John 
Ketcham, Thomas Scidmore, Isaac Post, Thomas Jones, and 
Thomas Wicks. In 1694 another patent was granted by Go- 
vernor Fletcher, by which the eastern limit of the town was 
altered, their former purchases confirmed, and the right of 
pre-emption to all the lands within the boundaries of the patent, 
not then purchased, secured to them. The expense of this pa- 
tent was £56 I85 3d, of which sum £50 was paid to the gover- 
nor and public officers. The names inserted in the last patent 
are Thomas Wicks, Joseph Bayley, Jonas Wood, John Wood, 
John Wicks, Thomas Brush, and John Adams ; and they are 
called trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of the town, 
with the usual powers of a civil corporation. 

In an early period of the settlement, in this town as well as 
in others, almost all domestic trade was carried on by means 
of exchange. Contracts were made to be satisfied in produce, 
and even the judgments given in the courts, were made paya- 
ble in grain, at fixed prices, or in merchantable pay at the cur- 
rent price. The prices were established by the governor and 
court of assize ; and in 1665 the assessors were ordered to fi^ 
an estimate for stock. Accordingly, a horse or mare four years 
old and upward, was to be taken in pay at twelve pounds ; a 



o 



12 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



Gow four years old and upward, at five pounds ; an ox or bull 
of the same a^e, at six pounds ; and other articles, as pork, 
wheat, corn, &c., at proportionate prices. In the draft of a con- 
tract between the town and a schoolmaster in 1657, the salary- 
was to be paid in current jy ay ; and in 16S6 the town contracted 
with a carpenter to make an addition to the meeting-house, to 
be paid in produce. Even executions issued by the magistrates, 
were satisfied in the same way. " At a town meeting, April 4, 
1661, it was agreed that o. firkin of butter should be paid in, at 
Steven Jarvis's house by the middle of June, for the satisfaction 
of a debt due from ye town to Ensigne Briant." The more ef- 
fectually to preserve the public morals, the people excluded 
from society those whom they thought likely to injure them. 
In 1662 they appointed by a vote at town meeting, a committee, 
consisting of the minister and six of their most respectable citi- 
zens, to examine the characters of those, coming to settle among 
them ; with power to admit or reject, as they judged most likely 
to benefit or injure society, with a proviso, that they should not 
exclude any "th:it were honest, and well approved by honest 
and judicious men ;" and forbid any inhabitant to sell or let house 
or land to any one not approved by the committee, under the 
penalty of ten pounds, to be paid to the town. In 1653 the 
town forbade any inhabitant to entertain a certain obnoxious 
individual longer than the space of a week, either gratuitously 
or for pay, under the penalty of forty shillings. 

" At a town meeting, held May 14, 165S, it was agreed by a 
major vote, that tow men beeing chose to goe to Newhaven 
about joining in goverment with them ; and also to a tend the 
bisnis of the ships that was caste away on the south side ; and 
that they that belonge to the ships bisnis, shall bear tow-third 
of the charges in sendin of the tow men, and one-third the 
towne in generall shall paye." And 27th Uecember, 165S, it 
was " ordered that the Indians have ten shillings for as many 
wolves as they kill within our bounds, that is, ten shillings a 
year, if they make it evident they were so killed." March 5, 
1665, the town court gave judgment, "that defendant pay the 
debt in wheat or peas, at merchant prices." 

'• At a towne meating, Nov. ye 10th, 1686, it was agreed upon 



. 



TOWN OP HUNTINGTON. 313 

by ye ^eneralitie of ye inhabitants, that too men should be sent 
to Yourke in order to ye Govenor's letter ; the men chosen by 
ye towne for yt purpose was Tho, Powell and Isaac Piatt." 

July 29, 1682, the town court ordered a person to pay a fine 
of twenty shillings, or make such acknowledgment as the court 
would accept, for having brought a bag of meal from Oyster- 
Bay on the Sabbath ; and on the 3d of June, 1683, required a 
written confession from three men, who had travelled on the 
Sabbath from Huntington to Hempstead. 

In order to secure the due administration of justice in this 
town and to punish crimes, a court was early established by 
the people, composed of three magistrates, a clerk, and consta- 
ble, chosen annually at town meeting. The parties were enti- 
tled to a jury of seven men, a majority of whom were compe- 
tent to render a verdict. In cases of slander and defamation, 
(which were by far the. most common,) the judgment was fre- 
quently in the alternative, that defendant make confession in. 
open court, or pay a pecuniary satisfaction. In one instance of 
gross slander the defendant was adjudged to be placed in the 
stocks, which appears to be the only instance on record of cor- 
poral punishment in the town. Nor does it appear that a sin- 
gle criminal prosecution took place in the town previous to 
1664, slander and trespass being the most aggravated cases on 
record. 

In 1660 the town resolved to put themselves under the juris- 
diction of Connecticut, and were received accordingly. In 
1662 they elected two deputies to attend the next general court 
of election at Hartford, in May, 1663. This connection was 
dissolved, of course, on the conquest of New -York in 1664. 
On the 18th of October, 1660, the town established a house of 
entertainment, and made its continuance to depend upon the 
correctness with which the keeper discharged the trust ; and 
January 2d, 1682, the town court ordered the estate of an in- 
temperate person to be attached, that it might be "secured, pre- 
served, and improved for his livelihood and maintenance, and 
that the town might not be damified.'' 

The first minister of this town was the Rev. William Leve- 
ridge or Leverich. He came from England with Captain Wig- 

40 



314 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

gin and company, arriving at Salem, October 10, 1633. He 
preached at Dover, Massachusetts, till 1635. In 1638 he re- 
moved to Sandwich, and in 1647 was employed by the com- 
missioners of the United Colonies as a missionary, and resided 
for the most of the time at Plymouth. He is mentioned by 
Morton, in his history of Plymouth, as among the ablest minis- 
ters in the colony of Massachusetts in 1642. In April, 1653, 
he visited Long Island, and made a purchase, with others, at 
Oyster-Bay. It is probable that he devoted some part of his 
time, after his removal to Oyster-Bay, in instructing the natives, 
either on Long Island or elsewhere. From the accounts of the 
commissioners presented to the society for propagating the gos- 
pel in New England, it appears they allowed Mr. Leveridge 
small sums, from time to time, between 1653 and 1658, for his 
services among the Indians. In 1657 they desired him to in- 
struct the Corehaug and Montauk tribes, at the east end of the 
island, if his situation would admit of it. In 1658 he was es- 
tablished as the minister of this town, and on the 10th of Feb- 
ruary, 1662, the people, by a vote at town meeting, appointed 
two men to purchase a house and land for a parsonage ; and by 
a similar vote, the 7th of June following, granted to Mr. Leve- 
ridge the use of all the meadow about Cow-Harbor, on both 
sides of the creek, as long as he should continue their minister. 
In 1670 he removed to Newtown, and was the first minister of 
that place. 

In April, 1673, the people, by a vote at town meeting, au- 
thorized the magistrates, with certain other persons named for 
the purpose, to endeavor to procure a minister for the town ; 
and in January, 1676, by a similar vote they agreed to invite 
the Rev. Eliphalet Jones, to continue with them as their min- 
ister, and that he should have twenty acres of land where he 
chose to take it up. He deferred his acceptance of the invita- 
tion till the 10th of June, 1677, when, at a public training, the 
choice of the people was expressed in his favor with one dis- 
senting voice. Mr. Jones was the son of the Rev. John Jones, 
(who came to Boston in 1635, and settled at Concord in 1637.) 
He was born Nov. 6, 1640, and died in this town in 1731, at 
the age of ninety -three. He appears to have been a man of 



TOWN OP HUNTINGTON, 315 

great purity and simplicity of manners, and a faithful and suc- 
cessful preacher. In consequence of his increasing age and 
infirmity, the town, on the 19th of June, 1719, engaged the 
Rev. Ebenezer Prime to assist him, which he did till June 5, 
1723, when he was ordained as his colleague. After the death 
of Mr. Jones, the Rev. Mr. Prime continued the minister of 
Huntington till October 30, 1766, when the Rev. John Close 
was settled as his colleague. After the departure of Mr. Close 
in 1773, Mr. Prime continued without a colleague till his death. 
Mr. Prime was born at Milford, Connecticut, in 1700, and gra- 
duated at Yale College in 1718. His first wife was a daugh- 
ter of Nathaniel Sylvester of Shelter Island, by whom he had 
a son that died while a student in Yale College ; and two 
daughters, one of whom married the Rev. James Brown of 
Bridgehampton, and the other Mr. Israel Wood of this town. 
His second wife was a daughter of Judge Youngs of South- 
old, by whom he had a son by the name of Benjamin, who af- 
terwards became an eminent physician. His third wife was a 
Miss Carle of this town, whom he left a widow at his death 
in 1779. 

The next minister was the Rev. Nathan Wood hull, son of 
Captain Nathan Woodhull of Setauket. He was born in 
1752, graduated at Yale College in 1775, and settled in this 
town in 1785 ; from whence he removed to Newtown in 1789, 
where he died in 1810. He was succeeded by the Rev. Wil- 
liam Schenck, a native of New Jersey, graduated at Nassau 
Hall in 1767, and settled here in 1794. He continued here till 
1817, when he removed with his family to Ohio. His wife 
was a daughter of Robert Cumming, Esq. of Freehold, New 
Jersey. He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Robinson, who 
settled in 1817, and removed in 1823 ; after which the Rev. 
Nehemiah Brown and the Rev. Mr. Halliday were successive- 
ly engaged for short periods. 

The first Presbyterian church was erected in the village of 
Huntington in 1665, enlarged in 1686, and succeeded by anoth- 
er on the site of the present church in 1715. This stood till 
the revolutionary war. The British troops, stationed here du- 
ring the winter of 1777, took possession of it, tore up the seats, 



316 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

and made a store-house of it. It remained in this condition 
till the fall of 1782, when it was torn down by order of Colo- 
nel Thompson, and the materials were employed in the con- 
struction of barracks in the fort upon the burying-hilj. 

The Episcopal church, called St. John's, was erected in 1764 ; 
and the only settled clergyman in this church was the Rev. 
James Greaton. He graduated in 1754 at Yale College, and 
came to reside here in 1767, where he died in 1773. His wife 
was Mary Wheelright of Boston, by whom he had two sons, 
John and James. After his death she became the wife of Dr. 
Benjamin Y. Prime. A Presbyterian church was erected be- 
tween Crab- Meadow and Fresh-Pond, in the eastern part of the 
town, shortly before the revolutionary v/ar, and was supplied a 
part of the time by the Rev. Joshua Hart, minister of Smith- 
town. Another has lately been built at Red-Hook. A Meth- 
odist church was erected at Comae in 1786, and a second 
in 1831. A handsome Universalist church was completed in 
the village of Huntington in 1837. Huntington Academy was 
erected in 1794, and has proved one of the most useful schools 
in the country. The village of Huntington is the most ancient 
and populous in the town, and has a fine harbor. The other 
navigable waters on the north side of the town are Cold-Sprmg, 
Lloyd's Harbor, and Great and Little Cow- Harbor. The bay 
formed by Eaton's Neck and Lloyd's Neck affords a depth of 
water for vessels of the largest class, and was used as a station 
for ships during the revolution. The South- Bay, which bounds 
the town on the south, is evidently decreasing in width, and 
the depth of water constantly lessening by the sand washed 
and blown into it from the beach. The village of Little Cow- 
Harbor is now called Centre-Port, and the name of Great-Cow- 
Harbor changed to North-Port ; each having a considerable po- 
pulation, and easy communication with the Sound. Comae 
and Dix-Hills also contain a number of houses; but the most 
active and thriving village is Babylon, upon the south side of 
the island, in full view of the bay and ocean. It is situated upon 
Siinquanis Neck, and has a fine stream of water on either 
side, upon which mills have long been erected. The popula- 
tion is about two hundred and fifty, with two good hotels, some 



TOWN OP HUNTINGTON. 317 

half a dozen stores, and several mechanic shops. Few places 
are more pleasantly and eligibly situated for business, and for 
the resort of those who delight in sea air and the amusements 
of fishing and fowling. It is about forty miles from the city of 
New- York. The first Presbyterian church was built in 1730, 
which was demolished by the British during the revolution, 
and its materials conveyed to Hempstead to aid in the erection 
of barracks at that place. A new church was finished soon 
after the peace, which has lately been converted into a dwelling- 
house, and a larger and more elegant edifice erected in its place, 
with a bell presented by David Thompson, Esq. of New-York. 
The society of Universalists are also preparing to erect a house 
for public worship in the village, which, when not occupied by 
them, is to he free to all denonnnations of Christians. 

The surface of this town along the Sound, and for two or 
three miles from it, is rough and hilly, sometimes stony. It 
then becomes level, and so continues from two to four miles in 
different places, v/hen there occur three separate ridges or 
groups of hills, the West Hills, the Hills around the Long- 
Sioatnp, and Dix-Hills. These are irregular, and extend two 
or three miles each way. South-westerly of Dix-Hills, after a 
small mterval of level land, is another group, called the Half- 
Way -Holloiv- Hills. From which the descent to the South- 
Bay is an inclined plane, and so gradual as to be imperceptible. 
The South-Bay has upon its northern shore a continuous strip 
of salt-meadow, nearly a mile wide. The soil near the Sound, 
and particularly upon the necks, is the best in the town. The 
high grounds are the most valuable and productive. The pine 
plains in the middle of the island are a mass of sand, with occa- 
sional spots having a thin covering of loam. The whole of 
the town is evidently alluvial, for in no part can the earth be 
excavated to any considerable distance without meeting with 
sand and gravel, bearing evident marks of long attrition by wa- 
ter. On a slope at the west end of the Haif-Way-Hollow-Hills, 
coarse sand-stones, of a dark yellow color, intermixed with 
mineral substances, have been found. Also the sulphuret of 
iron ; and at the depth of eighteen feet, limbs of trees and the 
outer bark of the pitch-pine have been discovered, their inter- 



318 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

slices filled with a mineral. At the first settlement of the town, 
wolves, wild-cats, wild-turkies, swans, and pelicans were found 
in abundance ; and the wolves were so mischievous, that boun- 
ties were freely given for their destruction. 

Eaton^s Neck, which lies upon the north, and extends some 
distance into the Sound, is a valuable tract of about fifteen 
hundred acres. There is a due proportion of arable land, wood- 
land, and meadow. On the extreme point a light-house was 
erected in 1798, at an expense of $9,750. This neck takes its 
name from Governor Eaton of New-Haven, who obtained it 
from the Indians in 1646. It was sold to Richard Bryan of 
Milford, in 1684, whose descendants conveyed it to John Sloss 
of Fairfield. His daughter became the wife of the Rev. Noah 
Hobart of that place, and eventually it became the property of 
her son, the late Hon. John Sloss Hobart, former judge of 
the supreme court of this state ; who, at the close of the re- 
volution, conveyed it to John Watts of New- York, and sold by 
him to John Gardiner, the ancestor of the present owners. 

West Neck is likewise a highly valuable and fertile tract of 
land, of many hundred acres, between Cold-Spring and Hun- 
tington Harbors, to which Lloyd's Neck is attached by a 
low flat sand-beach or strand. In addition to its other local ad- 
vantages, it contains very extensive beds of choice clay, from 
which milHons of brick have been manufactured. On the east 
side of Huntington Harbor is East Neck, which is neither so 
large or fertile as the former. It is, however, more elevated, 
and affords from many spots very sublime and romantic views 
of the distant scenery. A splendid mansion has lately been 
erected in an elevated position by Professor Rhinelander of 
New- York as a country residence, which is seen to great ad- 
vantage from all parts of the adjoining country. 

A newspaper was established in this town by Samuel A. Sea- 
bury in 1821, called the " American Eagle^'' which was con- 
tinued till about the year 1825 ; and on the first of May of that 
year a monthly magazine, entitled the " Long Island Journal 
of Philosophy,'^ was commenced by Samuel Fleet, which, for 
want of sufiicient patronage, was relinquished in a year or two 
after. 



TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. 319 

John Sloss Hobart, mentioned above as a former owner of Eaton's Neck 
and an inhabitant of this town, was born at Fairfield in 1635. He graduated at 
Yale College in 1757, and although not bred a lawyer, was a man of a sound edu- 
cation and excellent understanding. His deportment was grave and his counte- 
nance austere ; yet he was a warm-hearted man, and universally respected for his 
good sense, his integrity, his pure moral character, and patriotic devotion to the 
best interests of his country. He possessed the entire confidence of the public 
councils of the state, and on all fitting occasions this confidence was largely and 
freely manifested. He was appointed to the bench of the supreme court of this 
state in 1777, and continued in the office for about twenty years. He was (says 
Chancellor Kent) a faithful, diligent, and discerning judge during the time he 
remained upon the bench. He was selected as a member from this state of a par- 
tial and preliminary convention that met at Anapolis in September, 1786, and 
was afterwards elected by the citizens of New- York amemberof the state con- 
vention in 1788, which ratified the present constitution of the United States. 
When he retired from the Supreme Court in 1798, he was chosen by the legisla- 
ture of this state a senator in Congress. His friend, the late Hon. Egbert Ben- 
son, caused a plain marble slab to be affixed in the wall of the chamber of the 
supreme court in the City-Hall of the city of New-York, to the memory of 
Judge Hobart, with the following inscription upon it, which, though bordering 
on that quaint and sententious style so peculiar to Judge Benson, contains a 
just and high eulogy on the distinguished virtues of the deceased: 

" John Sloss Hobart, was born at Fairfield, Connecticut. His fath- 
er, a minister of that place. He was appointed a Judge of the Su- 
preme Court in 1777, and left it in 1798, having attained si.xty 
years of age. The same year he was appointed a Judge of the 
United States District Court for New-York, and held it till his death 
in 1805. As a man, firm — as a citizen, zealous — as a Judge, dis- 
tinguishing — as a Christian, sincere. This tablet is erected to his 
memory by one, to whom, as a friend — close as a brother." 

Benjamin Youngs Prime. This eminent physician was the son of the Rev, 
Ebenezer Prime, minister of Huntington, where he was born about the year 1746- 
He received his classical education at Princeton College, where, after graduatino- 
he remained awhile as tutor, and afterwards commenced the study of medicine 
with Doctor Jacob Ogden, who was, for nearly forty years, a respectable physi- 
cian at Jamaica, and who published an ingenious and valuable treatise upon 
scarlet fever, a disease at that time little known in this country. After comple- 
ting his course of studies, Dr. Prime sailed for Europe, and while there attended 
some of the more celebrated medical schools of London, Edinburgh, and Paris- 
after which he made an excursion to the city of Moscow. He was honored with 
a degree at most of the institutions which he visited, and was much noticed and 
respected for his amiable manners and extraordinary attainments. Returning to 
America, he commenced practice in the city of New-York, where he obtained 
much distinction ; and on the city being entered by the British troops in Septem- 
tember, 1776, he was compelled to abandon his business and prospects; for, being 
a staunch Whig, and accustomed to lash the enemy with the satire of his pen, to 
remain among them at such a time might expose him to inconvenience and dan- 
ger. About this time he contracted a matrimonial alliance with the widow of 



320 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

the Rev. James Greaton, by whom he had two sons and three daughters; the 
youngest of whom is the Rev. Nathaniel S. Prime of Newburgh, a scholar and 
man of talents. Doctor Prime continued to use his pen and to indulge hi.'* poetic 
vein in lampoons upon the British officers and soldiers, and to encourage by 
every means the hopes and exertions of his countrymen. Having finally become 
suspected as the author of some severe publications, in which the enemy and 
their Tory allies were held up to public scorn and ridicule, attempts were made to 
take him prisoner ; but being acquainted with their designs, he took refuge 
"with his family in Connecticut, where he remained till the restoration of peace. 
He next settled as a physician in his native place, where he had constant empiloy- 
ment, extending his practice to a considerable distance in all directions, till the 
close of his valuable life on the 31st of October, 1791. He was a man of great 
natural abilities, possessed much genius for poetry ; and his learning, both pro- 
fessional and miscellaneous, was various and extensive. He died in the vigor of 
life and in the midst of usefulness, universally respected and lamented. His 
widow survived him for a period of nearly fifty years. 

TOV/N OF OYSTER-BAY. 

This town embraces a larger extent of territory than any- 
other in the county of Q,ueens ; and is bounded north by the 
Sound, east by Suffolk County, south by the Atlantic Ocean, 
and west by the towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead, 
together with Lloyd's Neck lying opposite the town of Hun- 
tington. The name is, doubtless, derived from the beautiful 
bay on its northern border, which anciently is said to have 
abounded in oysters of the finest quality. In the spring of 
1640 an attempt was made to form a settlement upon the pre- 
sent site of the village of Oyster-Bay by Captain Edward Tom- 
lyns, his brother Timothy Tomlyns, and a few other persons 
from the town of Lynn,without having obtained permission from 
the Dutch or consent of the agent of the Earl of Stirling, who 
at that time resided in Boston. They met with such opposition 
from the Dutch, who remonstrated against their proceedings, that 
they abandoned the place and returned again to Massachusetts. 
James Farret, the authorized agent of the Earl, was so much 
displeased with the conduct of these adventurers, that he forth- 
with drew up a formal protest against them, which is thus 
recorded in Winthrop's History of Massachusetts : 

"Know all men by these presents, that whereas Edward Tomlyns and Timo- 

^ thy Tomlyns, together with one Housard Knowles and others, have lately 

entered and taken possession of some part of the Long Island in New-England, 



TOWN OF OYSTER-BAY. 321 

which Was formerly granted by Letters Patent of our Sovereign Lord, King 
Charles, to the Right Hon. William Earl of Stilling and his heirs: ], James 
Farret, by virtue of a commission under the hand and seal of the said Earl to me 
made for the disposing and ordering of the said Island, do hereby protest and 
intimate, as well to the said Edward Tomlyns and others, the said intruders, as 
to all others whom it may concern, that neither they, nor any of them, nor any 
other person or persons, (not claiming by or from the said Earl,) have or shall 
have, or enjoy any lawful right, title, or possession of, in, or to the said island, or 
any part thereof; but that the said Earl, his heirs and assigns, may and will at all 
times, when they please, implead or eject, either by course of law or lawful force, 
if nesd be, all tha said intruders, their servants, tenants, or assigns ; and may and 
will recover against them and every of them, all damages and costs in this behalf 
sustained, or any color of title, or pretence of right, by grant from the governor 
of New England, or any other notwithstanding. In testimony whereof I have 
made and published this protest and intimation before Joh>v Winthrop, one of the 
magistrates and council of the Massachusetts, in New England aforesaid, and 
have desired that the same be recorded there, and in other jurisdictions in these 
parts, and have published and showed the same to the said Edward Tomlyns in 
presence of the witnesses. Dated at Boston, the 28th of 7th month, An. Dom. 
1641, in anno Regis Domini Nostri Caroli Anglise, decimo septimo. 

" James Farret." 

In the history of Lynn, it is mentioned that the said Edward 
and Timothy Tomlyns were men of distinction in the early 
settlement of Massachusetts, who, as well as Daniel Howe, were 
frequently chosen representatives to the general court between 
the years 1634 and 1640. In 1642 some of the English again 
advanced as far as Oyster-Bay, within the tract which had been 
previously purchased from the Indians by Captain Howe, and 
were again repulsed by Governor Kieft, and some of the per- 
sons taken and imprisoned ill New- York. The line of separa- 
tion between the respective territories of the two powers was a 
constant source of difficulty, and the public harmony was dis- 
turbed by mutual complaints of encroachments both on Long 
Island and the Main; and it was at length attempted to put an 
end to the controversy by definitely settling the boundaries of 
the respective territory. 

On the 19tli of May, 1643, the colonies of Plymouth, Massa- 
chusetts, Hartford, and New-Haven, united for their mutual 
security and the protection of the settlements connected with 
them ; and the public affairs were transacted by two commis- 
sioners from each, by whom all controversies between the Eng- 
lish and Dutch were from that period managed on the part of 

41 



322 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

the English. A treaty for the adjustment of diiferences and 
the establishment of boundaries between the two powers, was 
negotiated by Simon Bradstreet and Thomas Prince on the 
part of the commissioners ; and by Thomas Willet and George 
Baxter on the part of the Dutch, at Hartford, the 19th of Sep- 
tember 1650. By that treaty, as has been seen, it was agreed 
" that a hne run from the westernmost part of Oyster-Bay, and 
so a straight and direct Hne to the sea, should be the bounds 
betwixt the Enghsh and Dutch ; the easterly part to belong 
to the Eno-lish. and the westernmost to the Dutch. "When this 
town came to be settled by the English, a dispute arose between 
them and the Dutch governor, respecting the western limits of 
the bay, and this, with the delay of the States-General to ratify 
the treaty, furnished the Dutch governor witli a pretext for not 
fulfilling it. 

The first permanent settlement in this town was upon or 
near the site of the village of Oyster-Bay, in the year 1653 ; 
and the Indian deed for the first purchase was given by the 
Matinecock Sachem, as follows : 

"Anno Domini, 1653— This writing witnesseth that 1, Assiapum, alias Mo- 
heness, have sold unto Peter Wright, Samuel Mayo, and William Leveridge, 
their heyres, exets, administr, and assigns, all the land lying and scituate upon 
Oyster-Bay, and bounded by Oyster-Bay River to the east side, and Papequ- 
tunck on the west side, with all ye woods, rivers, marshes, uplands, ponds, and 
ail other the appertainances lying between ye bounds afore-named, with all the 
islands to the seaward, excepting one island, commonly called Hogg-Island, and 
bounded near southerly by a point of trees called Cantiaque ; in consideration of 
■which bargain and sale he is to receive as full satisfaction, six Indian coats, six 
kettles, six fathom of wampum, six hoes, six hatchets, three pair of stockings, 
thirty awlblades or muxes, twenty knives, three shirts, and as much Peague as 
will amount to four pounds sterling. In witness whereof he hath set his mark, 
in the presence of his 

" William Washborne, Anthony j Assiapum or Moheness, /*mark." 

Wright, Robert Williams. J J 

Upon the above instrument is an endorsement, as follows : 

" The within-named Peter Wright and William Leveridge, do accept of, as 
joynt purchasers with ourselves, William Washborne, Thomas Armitage, Dan- 
iel Whitehead, Anthony Wright, Robert Williams, John Washborne, and 
Richard Holdbrook, to the like right as we have ourselves in ye land purchased 
of Assiapum, and particularly mentioned in ye writing made and subscribed by 
himself, with the consent of other Indians respectively interested, and in ye names 
of such as were absent, acted by him and them. As witness our hands. Pekr 
Wright, Saimuzl Mayo, William Leverich.'^ 



TOWN OP OYSTER-BAY. 323 

In Hazard's collection of state papers, it is mentioned that the 
vessel which brought Mr. Leveridge here belonged to Captain 
Thomas Willet, Samuel Mayo, William Paddy, and John 
Barnes of Barnstable; and as war then prevailed between the 
English and Dutch in Europe, she was taken while within the 
Dutch limits, having gone to Hempstead-Harbor, and landed 
their cattle and goods, because there was no house erected at 
Oyster-Bay in which they could be received. The capture 
v/as made by Thomas Baxter of Rhode Island, who was cruis- 
ing against the Dutch commerce, under authority of Rhode 
Island, and took sides with the mother country ; upon, which 
the commissioners of the United Colonies were obliged to inter- 
fere, to procure a restoration of the vessel. 

One of the most ancient records of the town is a grant of 
land to Henry Townsend, dated the 16th of September, 1661, 
with permission to build a mill at Mill-River upon the west end 
of the town ; meaning, probably, the west side of th« settlement 
as then existing ; which is probably the same as has been owned 
by the Townsend family ever since. 

It would seem that much trouble was experienced by the first 
settlers, in consequence of the conflicting claims of the English 
and Dutch to this part of the town ; and in June, 1656, the 
commissioners of the United Colonies, in answer to a commu- 
nication from the Dutch governor, reproveth him for still con- 
tinuing to claim Oyster-Bay, contrary to the treaty made at 
Hartford. These disputes involved the inhabitants in much per- 
plexity, for, in order to avoid giving ofience to either power, they 
were under the necessity of observing a sort of neutrality be- 
tween the contending parties ; and on the 13th of Dec. 1660, 
the town meeting resolved that no person should intermeddle, 
to put the town either imder the Dutch or English, until the 
difference between them be ended, under the penalty of fifty 
pounds sterling. In 1659 the directors of the West India Com- 
pany ordered the Dutch governor to erect a fort, or to build a 
block-house, on their East-Bay, in order more effectually to re- 
sist the encroachments of the English. Although the treaty of 
Hartford was ratified by the States-General on the 22d of Feb- 
ruary, 1656, the Dutch governor was reluctant to give up his 



324 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND- 



claim of jurisdiction over this town, or a part of it. But on the 
Sth of January, 1662, the people of the town took a irsore decided 
stand, avowino^ their allegiance to the king of England, and re- 
solved to defend any who should be molested for exercising an- 
thority among them, at their joint expense ; and it is presumed 
that the town, about this period, united with other Enghsh 
towns upon the ishind in putting themselves under Connecti- 
■cur. The exact boundaries between this town and Hunting- 
ton were a subject of dispute, which occasioned the following 
letter, dated the Sth of July,';1669 : 

" Friends and neiglibors of the town of Huntington. We once more desire 
you in a loving^ friendly way, to forljear mowing our neck of me.-\dow, which you 
have presumpiiously mowed these several years ; and if, after so many friendly 
warnings, you will not forbear, you will force us, friends and neighbors, to seek 
our remedy in law, not else ; but resting youx friends and neighbors. By me, in 
behalf of the town of Oyster-Bay. Rjathias H.artey, Town Clerk." 

On tile 29th of Sept., 1677, a patent of confirmation for the 
lands already purchased from the natives was obtained of Go- 
vernor Andross, in which the boundaries are thus described : 

" Beginning on the east, at the head of Cold-Spring Harbor, and running a 
southward course across the Island to a certain river called by the Indians War- 
raskeluck; then along the sea-coast westerly to another certain river called Ar- 
rasquaung ; then northerly to the easternmost extent of the Great Plains, where 
the lins divides Hempstead and Robert Williams' bounds ; from thence wester- 
ly along tlie middle of said plains ti'.l it bears south frtmi the said Robert Wil- 
liams' marked tree, at the point of tr,;es called Cantiaque ; then on a north line, 
somewhat westerly, to the head of Hempstead Harbor on the east side of the 
Sound ; and from thence easterly along the Sound to the afore-mentioned north 
ar»d south line, wlueii runs across tha island by the Cold-Spring aforesaid ; to 
Henry Townsend, sen., Nicholas Wright, Gideon Wright, Richard Harrison, 
Joseph Carpenter, and Josias Latting, for themselves, their associates, the free- 
holders and inhabitants of the said town, their heyres, successors, and assigns, 
for ever." 

On the 26th of May, 1663, the Indians sold a part of Ma- 
tinecock to Capt. John Underbill, John Frost, and WilUam 
Frost ; another part on the 20th of April, 1669, to Richard Lat- 
ting ; another part on the 1st of Dec. 16S3, to Thomas Town- 
send ; and upon the 9th of January, 16S5, the chiefs, namely, 
Sncanemeii alias Runasiick, Chec/ias-en alias Quoi'opin, Sa- 
mose (son of Tackapaus/ia), being empowered by the rest of 
Ihe Indians, conveyed the residue of Matinecock, together with 



TOWN OF OYSTER-BAY. 



325 



some other lands, for the price of sixty pounds of current mer- 
chantable pal/, to James Cock, Joseph Dickerson, Robert 
Townsetid, Samuel Dickerson, Stephen Birdsall. James Town- 
send, Daniel Weeks, Isaac Doughty, John Wood, Edmund 
Wright, Caleb Wright, John Wright, William Frost, and Johu 
Newman ; and thereupon the said grantees agreed to accept, 
as joint purchasers with them, the following-named persons, 
being then the acknowledged inhabitants and freeholders of the 
town, comprising the most complete list of names at that time, 
which the records present : 



Jolin Townsend, Sen. 
Daniel Townsend, 
John Dawsbury, 
William Crooker, 
John Applegate, 
Thomas Youngs, 
John Rogers, 



Jolin Pratt, 
Tiionias Willets. 
Samuel Weeks, 
Joseph Weeks, 
Peter Wright, 
George Downing, 
Richard Harcutt, 



Hannah fforman, for her Daniel Coles, jun. 



son Moses. 
John Robliins, 
Thomas Townsend, 
Samuel Birdsall, 
Josias Carpenter, 
Sampson Hauxhurst. 
Adam Wright, 
Thomas Weeks, 
Nathan Birdsall, 
Mathew Prior, 



John Cock, 
John Weeks, 
Henry Franklin, 



Hope Williams, of Lu- 

sum. 
Lawrence Mott, 
William Buckler, 
Josias Latring, 
Thomas Cock, 
William Hauxhurst, 
Elizabeth Dickson, 
James Eleven, 
Daniel Wliitehead, 
Samuel Tiller, 



John Townsend, sen. of Robert Coles, 



Ijusum, 

Henry Bell, 
Rich-.rd Willett, 
Meriam Uarker, 
John Williams, of Lu- 
sum. 



Richard Kirby, 
William Thorncrafl, 
Robert Godfrey, 
Ephraim Carpenter, 
Joseph Sutton. 



A separate patent was obtained from the governor for the 
purchase of Musquito-Cove, cotemporaneoush'- with that for 
the other part of the town, and purports to be for sev'enteen 
hundred acres, the quit-rent for which was fixed at one bushel of 
good winter wheat annually. The records of the town during 
the last years of the 17th century, are filled with numerous 
conveyances for land from the natives, both to the town and to 
individuals, divisions and allotments among the proprietors of 
the town, wills, and contracts of diflerent descriptions. "At a 
town meeting held March 21, 16S9, Richard Harcut and John 
Townsend were deputed to go to Jamaica to appoint two men 
from the county to be at York on the tenth of April next, to 
consult of the affairs of the coiuitry." On the 19th of Feb. 



326 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

1693, the town met to consider the late act of assembly for set- 
tling two ministers in the county, and decided that it was 
against their judgment, and reported to the governor that they 
could do nothing about it. In 1693 a purchase was made from 
the Masapequa Indians for a tract at Fort Neck on the south 
side of the Island, by Thomas Townsend, for fifteen pounds 
current silver money^ which, on the 29th of June, 1695, he gave 
to his son-in-law Thomas Jones and daughter Freelove. 

By the act of 1691 Horse Neck, (now Lloyd's Neck,) which 
had heretofore been an independent plantation, and the only 
manorial estate in the county, was annexed to the town of 
Oyster-Bay. 

Lloyd's Neck, called by the Indians Caumsett, contains about three thousand 
acres of land, projeclin,^ into the Sound between Cold-Spring and Huntington 
Harbor. The soil is of an excellent quality, one half of which is appropriated 
to cultivation, and the other to the growing of timber. It was erected into a ma- 
nor called CXueen's Village in 1G83, during the administration of Governor Don- 
gan ; and an application for a renewal of the like privileges was made by the 
owners to the legislature the 27th March, 1790, which was refused. The Brit- 
ish troops took possession of it during the revolution, erected a fort, and commit- 
ted depredations to a great extent ; having, during the course of the war, cut down 
and dispi)sed of between fifty and a hundred thousand cords of wood. The re- 
production was so rapid, that for the last fifty years more than a thousand cords 
have been annually sold. Independent of its fine soil and many local advanta- 
ges, there is an inexhaustible mine of fine white clay, suitable^for pottery, and a 
bed of yellow ochre, of unknown extent, which may be employed as a substitute 
for paint. The purchase of this Neck was made the 20th Sept. 1654, from Ra- 
tjjcan Sagamore of Cow-Harbor, by Samuel Mayo, Daniel Whiteiiead, and 
Peter Wright, three of the first settlers of Oyster-Bay, for the price of three coats, 
three shirts, two cuitoes, three hatchets, three hoes, two fathom of wampum, six 
knives, two pair of stockings, and two pair of shoes. They sold to Samuel An- 
drews, on the 6th of May, 1658, for £100, and the sale was confirmed by Wi/an- 
danc'i, the Long Island Sachem, on the 14th of the same month. On the 
death of Andrews, the iSeck was conveyed to John Richbill the 5th of Sept. 1660, 
who, on the 18th of Oct. 1666, sold it to Nathaniel Sylvester, Thomas Hart, and 
Latimer Sampson, for £450. Sylvester released to his co-tenants, Oct. 17, 1668, 
a patent having been obtained from Governor Nicolls on the 20th Nov. 1667. 
The executors of Hart sold his moiety to James Lloyd of Boston for £200, Oct. 
17th. 187i), he having married Grizzle Sylvester, who had become entitled by devise 
from Sampson to his portion of the Neck. Mr. Lloyd now became proprietor of 
the whole estate. He died, Oct. 16, 1693, having devised the property to his 
children, one of whom, Henry Lloyd, came here to reside in 1711. Having ac- 
quired the interest of his co tenants, he became in time the sole owner of the 
Neck, which, in consequence of being included in the general boundaries of Hun- 
tington purchase, was claimed by that towii. On appeal to the ^court of assise, 



TOWN OF OYSTER-BAY. 327 

the claim of the tnwn was disallowed, and, to prevent a renewal of any such 
pretence in future, Mr. Lloyd procured a release from a greater part, if not from 
all, the freeholders of the town of Huntington. The division line between liim 
and the town was definitely fixed by David Jones of Oyster-Baj', Richard 
WoodhuU of Bmokhaven, and William Willis of Hempstead, arbitrators mutu- 
ally chosen for the purpose in 1734. 

Henry Lloyd was born Nov. 23, 16S5, and died March 10, 1783. Flis wife, 
Rebecca, was the daughter of John Nelson of Boston, whom he married Nov. 
23, 1708, and by whom he had ten children. He devised the Neck to his four sur- 
viving sons, Henry, John, James and Joseph. Henry was born Aug. 6, 1709, 
and having espoused the royal cause in the revolution, his part of the estate be- 
came forfeited by his attainder, and was subsequently purchased of the commis- 
sioners of forfeitures by his brother John. James was born March 14, 1728, 
and was an eminent physiciati in Boston, where he died in 1809. His son, the 
Hon. James Lloyd, a distinguished senator incongress from Massachusetts, died 
suddenly while on a visit to New-York, a few years since, leaving to his children 
a spotless reputation and a princely fortune. Joseph was born Dlc. 19, 171G, and 
died at Hartford June 30, 1780. John, the other brother, was born Feb. 19, 1711, 
and married Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Woolsey of Dos-Oris ; and 
had children Henry, John, Rebecca, Abigail and Sarah. Of these, Henry died, a 
few years since, unmarried, Abigail became the wife of Dr. James Cogswell of 
New- York, one of the most excellent men of his day, and greatly distinguished 
not only for his professional eminence, but for his r.oble pliilanthropy and pub- 
lic spirit. Sarah intermarried with the late Hon. James Hillhouse, senator in 
congress from Connecticut, eminent for his intelligence, and his entire devotion 
to every measure calculated to advance the public interest of the state and Union. 
James Hillhouse, Esq. of New-Haven, so favorably distinguished for his exten- 
sive literary attainments and fine poeti>".al genius, is his son. The last-named 
John Lloyd was about thirty years old at the commencement of the revolution- 
ary war ; and when the enemy took possession of Long Island, he was compelled 
to leave his large possessions to the free plunder of those who were influenced by 
no rule of law or justice, and great was the injury sustained. He received an 
appointment in the commissariat, the very responsible duties of which he dis- 
charged with a fidelity which met the approbation of the commander-in-chief. 
On his return to his farm in 1783, he married Amelia, daughter of the Rev. 
Ebenezer White, of Danbury, Connecticut. The office of judge of Clueen's Coun- 
ty was tendered him by Governor Jay, which, from his love of retirement, he 
declined. His death, which was sincerely regretted by those who knew him, 
took place at the age of forty-seven, in the year 1792. His widow survived till 
1818. 

His only son, John Nelson Lloyd, a gentleman of great respectability and 
■worth, resides upon the Neck, being the owner of more than one-third part of it • 
while another portion belongs to the children of his deceased sister, Angelina, 
•who intermarried with George W. Strong. Esq., a distinguished counsellor of the 
city of New- York. 

The remains of the fort erected upon the western side of the Neck near the 
Sound, are still visible. An attempt was made to capture this garrison in July, 
1781, by a force under the command of the Baron de Angely, but which proved 
unsuccessful, partly from the want of cannon, and partly from mistaking the 



328 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

true point of approach to the fort. This place was visited during the war by 
Prince William Henry, since King William IV. of England. The mansion of 
Mr. Llo)d is on the south side of the Neck, a beautifully romantic situation, the 
charms of which are intended to be portrayed by the late Governor Livingston 
in his delightful poem entitled " Philosophic Solitude." 

Dos-Oris is likevvi.se an interesting place, situated on the 
Sound a short distance north of Glen-Cove. The name is 
alleg-ed to be a contraction of the words Dos Uxoris, and in- 
tended to imply that the property had been derived to some of 
its former owners through the female line. The location is not 
only beautiful and picturesque, but well calculated for business. 
Several extensive milling establishments have long been erect- 
ed here, and proved a source of considerable pecuniary 
emolument. The soil in the vicinity is of excellent quality, 
and the facilities for improvement are rarely exceeded. This 
valuable property was originally obtained of the Matinecock 
Indians by Lewis Morris, a merchant of the island of Barbados, 
(uncle of Richard Morris, first proprietor of Morrisiana,) for 
which a patent of confirmation was granted by Governor 
Dongan in 1685. The whole, or a great part of it, was sub- 
sequently conveyed by Morris to Daniel Whitehead of Jamaica, 
Long Island; and was devised by him to his daughter, wife of 
John Taylor, whereby it descended to her only daughter, 
Abigail, who intermarried with the Rev. Benjamin Woolsey, 
minister of Sautliold. After his marriage, Mr. Woolsey remov- 
ed to Dos-Oris, where he continued till his death. One of his 
daughters became the wife of Dr. George Muirson of Setauket, 
a distinguished physician, and celebrated for his successful 
treatment of the small-pox ; more than two thousand having 
been inoculated by him, of whom only five died. Of this 
number was his grandson, George Muirson Woolsey. Heath- 
cote Muirson, son of Dr. Muirson, an amiable youth and ardent 
patriot, was mortally wounded during the attack upon Lloyd's 
Neck in July, 1781, as above mentioned. Another daughter 
of Mr. Woolsey married the Rev. Noah Wells of Stamford, a 
theologian of much acuiene.ss, and distinguished for his con- 
troversial writings on the subject of American Episcopacy. . 
He died in 1776. A third daught'^r was the wife of John 
Lloyd, as above stated. Mr. Woolsey had also two sons. Me- 



TOWN OF OVSTEli-BAY. 329 

lancton and Benjamin. The former, better known as Col. 
Woolsey, father of the late Gen. Melancton Woolsey of Cum- 
berland Head, near Plattsburgh, and grandfather of Com- 
modore Melancton T. Woolsey of the United States navy. 
General Woolsey was created a field-officer at the age of 
twenty-two, and rendered very important services upon the 
northern frontier. After the revolution, he took up his resi- 
dence near Plattsburgh, and died at Trenton, June 29th, 1819, 
while on ajourney to visit his son, then commanding at Sacket's 
Harbor. One of Col. Woolsey's daughters was the second wife 
of the Hon. James Hillhouse of New-Haven. 

Benjamin Woolsey, second son of the Rev. Mr. Woolsey, graduated at Yale 
College in 1744, and resided at Dos-Oris, in the commission of the peace, till his 
death in 1770. His estate was sold to Nathaniel Coles ; the other portion having 
been conveyed by the executors of Col. Woolsey to John Butler in 1G60, came 
also into the possession of Mr. Coles, who married the daughter of Mr. Butler, 
and thus descended to the late John B. Coles and Gen. Nathaniel Coles. The 
said Benjamin Woolsey married Miss Isaacs of New Rochelle, by whom he 
had two daughters, one of whom married Moses Rogers, an eminent merchant 
of New-York ; and the other the Rev, Timothy IDwight, afterwards president of 
Yale College, and one of the most learned men of tlie age. His death took 
place January 11th, 1817, but his widow still survives at an advanced age, in the 
full possession of her mental faculties. After the death of his wife, Mr. 
Woolsey married Ann, daughter of Dr. Muirson, (who had married his sifter,) 
and by whom he had several children. William W. Woolsey and George M. 
Woolsey of New-York, are sons of Mr. Woolsey. Another of his daughters 
married Captain Palmer of the British army, and emigrated to Ireland. His 
daughter Elizabeth mairied William Dunlap, well known for his eminence in 
the fine arts, and as the author of many valuable publications. 

Oyster-Ray Village^ including the Cove, (so called,) con- 
tains about sixty dwellings, and three hundred and fifty inhabit- 
ants. From its position, fronting on the Bay and Sound, it may 
be considered one of the most desirable places of residence in 
this part of the island, and some gentlemen of wealth and taste 
have made choice of it accordingly. The view from many 
points is charmingly picturesque, presenting, in common with a 
few other locations in this quarter of the country, a variegated 
prospect of land and water, of forest and cultivated fields. Be- 
tween the water of the Bay and Sound is Middle or Centre 
Island^ formerly called Hog-Island, once probably encircled 
bv water, but now connected with the main land of Matinecock 

42 



339 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

by a long sandy beach of alluvial forination. It contains about 
six hundred acres of the most valuable land, divided into three 
farms, and highly improved. On the west of the villnge is the 
coantry-seat of the Hon. William T. McCoun, vice-chfncsllor 
of the lirst circuit, a gentleman of high judicial acquirements 
and acknowledged ability in his official station. In front of his 
mansion is a rock of considerable size, from which the celebra- 
ted George Fox addressed a large assemblage in 1672, while 
on a tour through Long Island. On the high ground near the 
Baptist church, are the remains of a fortification erected by 
Col. Simcoe, in the revolution, to prevent any hostile American 
force from entering the Bay ; and while here, was visited by 
the unfortunate Major Andre a short time previous to his 
arrest and execution. On the east side of the village, which is 
called the Cove, in a romantic spot shaded with trees, and 
having a luxuriant view of the Bay and surrounding scenery, 
is the private residence of Dr. James E. Dekay, an individual 
favorably known for his amiable character, and his proficiency 
in science and literature. His " Sketches of Turkey'^ alone 
have elevated him far above the majority of travellers ; to this 
excellent performance the reading world are deeply indebted 
for a more correct delineation of Turkish character and man- 
ners than has before been published. 

The first Baptist church in this village was erected in 1724, 
and still remains, a curious relic of that age. It is about twenty 
feet square, with a quadrangular pointed roof, and no longer 
used for " lodging folk disposed to sleep ;" having lately 
been converted into a stable. The present church was 
built in 1801, The first minister of this congregation was 
the Rev. William Rhodes, a native of Chichester, England, 
who was engaged here in 1700, before the erection of the 
church. His successor was the Rev. Robert Feeks, the son of 
a Q,uaker, who was both prudent in his behavior and of liberal 
sentiments. He continued to preach till 1740, and died at the 
age of eighty-nine. The Rev. Thomas Davis, from Pennsyl- 
vania, was settled here in 1745, and, after several years, returned 
to his native state. The Rev. Caleb Wright, a grandson of 
Mr. Rhodes, had accepted an invitation to settle ; but having 



TOWN OP OYSTER-BAY. 331 

died suddenly after his arrival in November, 1752, his installa- 
tion sermon was changed to a funeral oration. In 1789 the 
Rev. Benjamin Coles was settled, and continued till within a few 
years of his death in 1811. The Rev. Marmadiike Earle was 
associated in the ministry with Mr. Coles in 1800, in which year 
the Oyster-Bay academy was completed, and of which Mr 
Earle was the superintendent for nearly thirty years. He is 
still pastor of the church, and devotes a portion of his time to 
the business of instruction, although far advanced in years. 

Olen-Cove, formerly called Musquito Cove, is a considerable 
village, conveniently situated upon the east side of Hempstead 
Harbor near its confluence with the Sound. It has long been 
a place of much activity, and has a good deal increased within 
a few years. There is a stream passing through it sufficient 
for mills and other machinery. There are two good hotels, sev- 
eral stores and mechanic shops. It possesses also a small aca- 
demy, and an Episcopal church called St. Paul's, erected in 
1834, which stands upon an eminence overlooking the neigh- 
boring country to a considerable extent. The Dutch church at 
Wolver-Hollow was originally built in 1732, and having stood 
just one hundred years, was followed by the present church in 
1832. At Matinecock, Buckram, Cedar-Swamp, Wheat l^, 
and Wolver-Hollow, are a good number of inhabitants, mostly 
farmers, who possess abundantly the necessaries and most of the 
luxuries of life. Jericho, anciently called Lusum, is a plea- 
sant village near the centre of the town, eight miles east of 
Q,ueen's County court-house. It is a part of the original pur- 
chase of Robert Williams in 1650, and from whom the title to 
the land has been derived. The dwellings are about forty, and 
the inhabitants two hundred and fifty. It is supplied with pure 
water issuing from the base of a hill near the village. The 
Friend's meeting-house was first erected in 1689, at which time 
several duaker families took up their residence here, and soon 
after on the neighboring lands about Westbury, so called from 
its situation west of Jericho. This place is memorable as being 
the residence of Elias Hicks, the celebrated duaker preacher, 
who settled here in 1771, and died in 1830. Norwich is situat- 
ed about midway between the villages of Jericho and Oyster- 



332 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Bay, and at the present eastern termination of the turnpike lead- 
ing to Fiushino^. It contains about twenty-five houses, one or 
two stores, a fine hotel, and nearly two hundred inhabitants, 
principally asrriculturists. The Methodist church was built 
about four years since. Westbitry is a rich agricultural dis- 
trict, between Jericho and the court-house, level and fertile ; a 
majority of the inhabitants are Friends, and have two places for 
relio-ious worship ; the one of ancient date, the other erected with- 
in a few years, occasioned by the unhappy divisions now existing 
among this respectable fraternity of Christians. Hicks-ville^ 
two miles south of Jericho, is located upon the eastern part of 
the 2;reat plains, at the present termination of the Long Island 
railroad. The car-house, and other necessary erections of 
the company, a hotel, and a few private houses, constitute the 
village; there are, however, good reasons for supposing it may 
hereafter become the site of some considerable manufacturing 
establishments, especially from ihe facility aftorded for expe- 
ditious and cheap communication with the cities of Brooklyn 
and New- York. Bethpage is a considerable though scattered 
settlement at the east of the great plains, where there is a 
Friends' meetins^-house, and about two hnndred inhabitants, 
■who are farmers. The south side of the town has a level sur- 
face, and a light sandy soil, covered by a thin stratum of vege- 
table mould. The most interesting portion of this part of the 
town is tliat known by the name of Fort Aeck, so called on 
account of two old Indian forts, the remains of which are still 
very conspicuous. One of these is situated on the most south- 
erly point of land adjoining the salt meadow, and is nearly, if 
not exactly, a square, being about thirty yards on each side. 
The breast-work or parapet is of earth, and there is a ditch or 
moat on the outside, which appears to have been about six feet 
wide. The other fort was on the southernmost point of the 
salt meadow adjoining the bay, and consisted of palisadoes set 
in the meadow. The tide has worn away the meadow where 
the fort stood, and the place is now a part of the bay, and co- 
vered with water. In the bay between the meadow and the 
beach are two islands, called Squaw Islands ; and the uniform 
tradition of the Indians was, that tlie forts were erected by their 



TOWN OF OYSTER-BAY. 333 

ancestors a great while ago, for defence against their enemies ; 
and that upon their approach, the women and children were 
sent to tiiese islands, whicli occasioned them to be so called. 
Tiie first and most substantial dwelling erected here by the 
white people was the Old Brick House, said to have been 
built by Captain Thomas Jones in 1695. It was doubtless 
considered a more than ordinary specimen of architecture in 
that day, and finished in a snperior style. Many improbable 
fictions in relation to the owner of the mansion have been pre- 
served, and more strange, not to say marvellous legends, have 
been cherished and circulated in regard to the edifice itself, 
which ignorance and superstition have not tailed to magnify, 
and sutficient to fill the lonely and benighted traveller with 
fear and anxiety. A correspondent of the New-York Mirror, a 
few years since, speaking of the Brick House,sa.YS : " This vene- 
rable edifice is still standing', though much dilapidated, and 
is an object of awe to all the -people in the neighborhood. The 
traveller cannot fail to be struck with its reverend and crumb- 
ling ruins as his eye first falls upon it from the turnpike ; 
and if he has heard the story, he will experience a chilly sen- 
sation, and draw a hard breath ichile he looks at the circular 
sashless window in the gable end. That window has been 
left open ever since the old maris death. His sons and grand- 
sons used to try all manner of means in their power to close it 
tip. They put in sashes, and they boarded it tip, and they 
bricked it up, but all would not do ; so soon as night came 
their work would be destroyed, and strange sights would be 
seen and awful voices heardJ^ This curious and venerable 
relic of bye gone ages stood for a period of more than one hun- 
dred and forty years, unscathed, except by the hand of time; 
and until 1S37, when it was removed to make way for the ex- 
tensive improvements of David S. Jones, Esq., near which he 
has erected one of the most costly and magnificent mansions 
in the state. The appendages to this splendid establishment 
are in keeping with the principal edifice, and do credit to the 
liberality and taste of their opulent proprietor. Although there 
is a large proportion of uncultivated land in the town, yet its 
agriculture has long been respectable. On the 21st of Dec. 



334 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

1767, a society, formed in New- York for the encouragement of 
the arts, awarded a premium of ten pounds to Thomas Youngs 
of this town, for having raised, the year before, twenty-two 
thousand young apple-trees. 

The village of Cold-Spring is situated at the head and upon 
both sides of Cold-Spring Harbor, consequently it is partly in 
the town of Huntington. The Indian name of this harbor is 
Wmoepex. The village collectively contains about seventy 
dwellings, and nearly live hundred inhabitants, including those 
€mployed in the several factories. A large flouring mill was 
erected here in 1792, at an expense of twelve thousand fivehun 
dred dollars, and is capable of manufacturing into flour more 
than one thousand bushels of grain a- week. There are like- 
wise two extensiv^e woollen factories. The first built in 1816, 
by William M. Hewlett and John H. Jones, cost ten thou- 
sand dollars ; and the second in 1820, by William H. Jones, 
John H. Jones, and Walter R. Jones, at an expense of twelve 
thousand five hundred dollars. Both are now owned by the 
three last-named gentlemen, in which are manufactured daily, 
into flannels and broad-cloths, more than one hundred and 
twenty pounds of wool. This place has likewise three stores, 
a lumber-yard, two wharves, fourteen coasting sloops, and two 
schooners ; besides two ships, of three hundred and fifty tons 
each, belonging to the Cold-Spring Whaling Company, incor- 
porated in 1836, which has thus far been successful. St. Tho- 
mas's Episcopal church was erected here in 1836, and is a 
handsome edifice. The situation is pleasant and the prospect 
extensive. The present rector is the Rev. Isaac Sherwood. 
This town has been the recipient of two considerable legacies ; 
one of three hundred pounds was given in 1798 by David 
Jones, the interest to be annually appropriated for the education 
of poor children belonging to the town ; and the other of thirty 
thousand dollars, bequeathed by the late Samuel Jones in 1836, 
to the towns of Oyster-Bay and North Hempstead, to be called 
the Jones' Fund ; the income whereof is directed by the testator 
to be applied exclusively for the support of the poor of the said 
towns. 

The following revolutionary anecdote is too interesting to be omitted. In 1779 



TOWN OF OYSTER-BAY. 335 

Major-general SiUiman was appointed by t!ie Governor and council of Con- 
necticut, superintendant of tlie coast of Fairfield. In the month of May, Sir 
Henry Clinton directed a small company of refugees to cross the Sound in a 
whale-boat from Lloyd-Neck, and, if possible, to take him prisoner. One of 
them was an inhabitant of Newtown, named Glover, a carpenter who had pre- 
viously been in the employ of the general, and having been some time at the 
house, was perfectly acquainted M'ith the safest and easiest modes of access to it. 
The crew consisted of nine — one was left in the boat, and eight came to the house 
about midnight. The family were awakened by a violent assault upon the door. 
The General sprang from bed, raised a musket and approached the door. As 
he passed by the window, he saw the men, and at once comprehended their de- 
sign. He attempted to fire, but his musket only flashed. At that instant the as- 
sailants broke through the window and .seized him, exclaiming that he was their 
prisoner, and that he must go with them. At his request they permitted him to 
dress, and having plundered him of a fusee, a pair of pistols, a sword, and a few 
other articles of small value, proceeded with expedition to the shore, which they 
reached about two o'clock, and immediately embarked for Long Island. As they 
approached the shore of Lloyd's Neck, Colonel Simcoe, the commanding officer, 
who was waiting for them, exclaimed, " Have you got him V They answered, 
Yes. " Have you lost any men T' No. " That is well, your Sillimans are not 
worth a man, nor your Washingtons." General Silliman's eldest son was ta- 
ken with him. The j)risoners were ordered to the guard-house. The General 
asked whether this was the manner they treated prisoners of his rank. The ad- 
jutant replied, " We do not consider you in the same light as we should a conti- 
nental General." How, then, said the General, will you view me when an ex- 
change shall be proposed ? " I understand you," said the officer, and withdrew. 
These questions, probably, saved the General from the indignity of being confin- 
ed in a guard-house. Soon after, he and his son were conducted in a carriage to 
New -York under an escort of dragoons, and on his arrival a large body of peo- 
ple assembled to see him. A friend advised him to withdraw to avoid insult, and 
very kindly conducted him to good lodgiiigs. Here he remained for some time, 
when he was ordered to Flatbush. At that time there was no prisoner in the 
possession of the Americans whom the British would accept for the General, and 
after some consideration it was determined to procure one. The person selected 
was the Hon. Thomas Jones of Fort Neck, Long Island, a justice of the su- 
preme court of the province of New-York; and Captain DanielHawley of New- 
field, (now Bridgeport,) undertook to accomplish the design. On the 4th of No- 
Tember, 1779, about twenty-five volunteers, under the command of Captains Haw- 
ley, Lockwood, and Jones, and Lieutenants Jackson and Bishop, set oflf from 
Newfield Harbor, They crossed the Sound that evening, arrived at Stoney- 
Brook near Smithtown, and marched to Mr. Jones' residence, where they arrived 
on the Gth about nine o'clock in the evening, the whole distance fifty-two miles. 
There was a ball in the house, and the noise of music and dancing prevented 
the approach of the adventurers being heard. Captain Hawley knocked at the 
door, and perceiving that nobody heard jhim, forced it, and found Judge Jones 
standing in the entry. He instantly told him he was his prisoner, and immedi- 
ately conducted him off, together with a young gentleman whose name was Hew- 
lett. A guard of soldiers was posted at a small distance from their road. When 
they came near the spot, Judge Jones hemmed very loud, and was forbidden by 



336 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Captain Hawley to repeat the sound. He, however, did repeat it; but being told 
by liis conductor that anotiier repetition would be followed by fotal consequences, 
he desisted. On their way they weie obliged to lodge in a forest through the 
day. The third night they reached their boat, having taken two prisoners more, 
crossed the Sound, and arrived safe at Black-Rock on the 8th, except six men, 
who being in the rear, were overtaken and captured by the light horse. As soon 
as Mrs. Silliman heard of the Judge's arrival, she sent him an invitation to 
breakfast, which he accepted. And during several days that he remained at her 
house, she used every means in her power to make his situation agreeable. But 
although few ladies could contribute more effectually to such a purpose, the 
Judge was distant, reserved, and sullen. From this place he was ordered to 
Middletown. It was a long time before the British would consent to an ex- 
change ; but in May, 1780, they agreed that if one Washburn, a i-efugee of a 
notoriously bad character, could be included in the exchange as a kind of make- 
weight, they would release General Silliman for Judge Jones, and his son for 
Mr. Hewlett. The vessel wliich conveyed him met another employed to trans- 
port General Silliman to his own house on the Sound. The two gentlemen hav- 
ing dined together, proceeded immediately to their respective places of destination. 
The General's return was welcomed with demonstrations of joy by all the sur- 
rounding country ; but Judge Jones was doomed to further suffering, for, hav- 
ing taken a very decided stand in favor of royalty, his estate at Fort Neck was 
forfeited by his attainder, and on the approach of peace he departed for England, 
where he ended his days — an exile from his friends and countrymen. 

John Underhill. On the farm of one of his descendants in this town is 
the grave of tliis wonderful man, of whose singular career so much is said in the 
histories of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Conneticut, and New -York. Few in- 
dividuals were more conspicuous, or rendered more important services to the colo- 
nists, than Captain Underhill, and especially in their wars and controversies with 
the various Indiun tribes. He was a man of the most untiring energy, activity, 
and courage; and such was the rapidity cf his movements, that his enemies were 
generally taken by surprise, and consequently defeated. He had served as an offi- 
cer in the British forces in the low countries, in Ireland, and at Cadiz. He came 
from England to Massachusetts soon after the settlement of that colony, and was 
generally employed in such expeditions as required extraordinary courage and 
energy. He had an important coaimand in the war of the Pequots in the years 
1636 and 7. After which he removed to Connecticut, and settled at Stamford ; and 
was a delegate from that town to the general court at New-Haven in 1C43, and 
was appointed an assistant justice there. He was the personal and political 
friend of Sir Henry Vane, who, at the age of twenty-six years, was appointed 
governor of Massachusetts in 1637. Underbill was made, the same year, com- 
mander of the troops at Saybrook. He was engaged with Captain iVIason in 
the attack upon the Indian fort at Mystic, where the fierce spirit of that tribe was 
broken down by the loss of so many men as were then destroyed ; even Sac- 
cacus was discouraged and fled to the Mohawks, and very soon those Indians, as 
a tribe, were extinguished. In 1641 he was chosen governor of Exeter and Do- 
ver, but was soon in great difficulty with the church, of which he was a member; 
He was an enthusiast in religion, so far as outward appearances were concerned, 
but a debauchee in practice. Yet, strange as it may seem, the church did not cen- 
sure him so much for the irregularity of his conduct, as for saying that he dated 



TOWN OF OYSTER-BAY. 337 

his conversion from the time he was smoking tobacco ; from whence they con- 
jectured it could^not be sincere. His character was somewhat eccentric in many 
respects, and in every thing he did was prone to run into extremes. So early as 
1G34: he was one of the deputies or representatives from Boston to the gnneral 
court of Massachusetts, and was known in the country about the year 1632, ac- 
cording to the accounts of the treasurer of the colony at that time ; by which it 
appears he was paid a pension ot tiiirty pounds a- year for services rendered llie 
colony, probably in the wars with the Indians, for which on every account he 
was peculiarly fitted. " He was," says Hutchison, " one of the most forward of 
the Boston enthusiasts." Hubbard says, that in 1636 he was in high favor with 
the governor, or, as he calls him in his book, right worthy Master Vane. He 
made a vovage to England in 1638, where he was interrogated and banished on 
account of his adherence to Mr. Weelwright and the seduction of a female. In- 
deed, the latter was u crime of which he was often accused, and doubtless not 
without good reason. Wliile in England this year, he published a curious little 
book, which he entitled. News from America, or a New and Experimental Disco- 
■rcrie of New England ; containing a true relation of warlike proceedings these 
two years past, with a figure of the Indian fort or palisado ; by John Vnderhill, a 
commander of the Warran there. London printed, 1638. This singular pro- 
duction has lately been republished by the Historical Society of Massachusetts, 
and is in all respects characteristic of the author. In Hutchinson, it is said, that 
in 1638, upon the Lord's day, Captain Underbill having been privately dealt 
with upon suspicion of inconiinency with a neighbor's wife, and not hearkening 
to it. was publicly questioned and put under admonition. The matter was, ac- 
cording to his explanation, "/or that the woman being very young and beautiful, 
atid tvilhal of a jovial spirit and behavior, lie did daily frequent her house, and 
was divers times found, there alone with her, the door being locked on the inside, and 
confessed it was ill, because it had the appea,rance of evil in it ; but that the wo- 
man was in great trouble of mind and sore temptation, and that he resorted to 
her, to comfort her ; and that when the door was found locked upon them, they 
were in private prayer together." But his conduct, says the historian, wasclcarly 
condemned by the elders. " He afterwards confessed his adultery, and in the 
year 1640, before a great assembly at Boston, on a lecture day and in the court- 
house, he sat upon a stool of repentance, with a white cap on his head ; and with 
many deep sighs, a rueful countenance, and abundance of tears, owned his wick- 
ed way of life, his adultery and hypocrisy, with many expressions of sincere re- 
morse, and besought the church to have compassion on liiin, and deliver him out 
of the hands of Satan" Yet the church considered his confession insincere, and 
cast him out of their communion. In 1639 he solicited to be received with a few 
families upon Long Island, and to enjoy the privileges of an inhabitant of the 
Dutch government ; which req\iest was granted by the governor upon condition 
he and his adherents should subscribe the oath of allegiance to the States-general 
and the Prince of Orange. He was afterwards employed by the Dutch to take 
command in the war against the Indians north of the Sound and west of the 
Connecticut settlements. This contest lasted till 1646. in Trumble's history of 
Connecticut, it is stated that Underbill destroyed three hundred Indians north of 
the Sound, and one hundred and twenty upon Long Island, who had crossed the 
Sound to ravage and destroy the Dutch plantations there. At the conclusion of 
this war he settled at Flushing. On the refusal ol the commissioners of th« 

43 



338 HISTORY OF long island. 

United Colonies to embark in the war between England and Holland, he applied 
to Rhode Island, and on the 17th of May, 1G53, they resolved to appoint a com- 
miitee from each town for the ripening matters that concern the Dutch, whom 
they style the enemies of the commonwealth, to defend the English plantations 
from them, nr for ofending them, as should be thought necessary ; and agreed to 
lend two great guns, twenty men, and other aid. They also granted a commis- 
sion to Captain Underhill and Mr. William Dyre, and ano.her to Edward Hull, 
to go agaiiit the Dutch, or any enemies of the Commonwealth of England. Un- 
der this commission he made an attack upon some of the Long Island Indians 
at Fort Neck, in which he was successful, took their fort, and destroyed great num- 
bers of the people. He afierwaids removed to his farm at Oyster-Bay (on which 
his great-grandson now resides) ; and was, in 1665, a delegate from that 
town to the meeting assembled at Hempstead by order of Governor Nicolls, and 
by whom he was appointed sheriff" for the north-riding of Yorkshire upon 
Long Island. Tne Dutch government had, it seems, been detected by Captain 
Underhill, at a former period, in carrying on intrigue with some of the Indian 
tribes for the destruction of the English ; and, in consequence of his disclosures, 
such ofTence was given to the former, that a guard of soldiers was sent to take 
him. He was carried to the city, and for a time confined in prison ; but engaging 
to be faithful to the Dutch in future, he was suffered to depart witiiout either 
punishment or reproof He died upon his farm in Oyster Bay in 1672. 

Hon. Samukl Jones. This eminent citizen and patriot was the son of Wil- 
liam Jones, and grandson of Captain Thomas Jones who emigrated from 
Strabane in Ireland in 1692. He first came to Rhode Island, and was, in a 
year or two after, married to Freelove, daughter of Thomas Tosvnscnd ; and 
received from him in 1695 a deed of gift for a valuable tract of land on the south 
side of this island, called Fort-Neck, from the existence of two Indian forts near 
the Bay. Here he erected a substantial dwelling, made from bricks burned upon 
the land, which stood for more thun one hundred and forty years, and familiarly 
known for the last fifty years as the " Old Brick Housed Amid much traditional 
history of this extraordinary individual, a small proportion only can be received 
as matter of fact. It is ascertained pretty satisfactorily, that he was engaged in 
the famous battle of th« Boyne, fought in 1690 between the English under Wil- 
liam III., and the Irish under James II., in which the former were victorious; 
and, coming to America, he brought with him a commission from the king to 
cruise against Spanish property, the two nations then being at war ; which he 
doubtless did not fail to employ to his advantage as opportunity offered. After 
his settlement here, he engaged largely in boat-whaling along-shore, which, at 
that period and before, was practised extensively upon the whole south coast of 
the island. For this purpose he gave employment to a great number of natives, 
whose services were procured at a cheap rate. He died in 1713, and was inter- 
red, agreeably to his own previous desire, within one of the above-mentioned 
Indian forts, near the bottom of the upland, upon his own farm, wJiere his 
monument may still be seen, bearing the following inscription composed by 
himself: 

" From distant lands to this wild waste he came. 

This spot he chose, and here he fixed his name ; 

Long may his sons this peaceful spot enjoy, 

And no ill fate their offspring ere annoy." 



TOWN OP OYSTER-BAY. 393 

Captain Jones left three sons and four daughters — David, Thomas, William, 
Margaret, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Freelove. Thomas died unmarried Margaret 
married Ezekiel Smith ;, Sarah, Gerardus Clowes ; Elizabeth, Jacob Mitchill ; 
and Freelove, Jacob Smith. David, to whom and his posterity was devised in tail 
a greater part of the paternal estate, was born in Sept. 1699. He was educated a 
lawyer, became highly distinguished in his profession, and was j\istly esteemed 
a man of very superior mental attainments. In 1737 he was chosen a member of 
the provincial assembly, and continued in that body till 1758. For thirteen 
years he filled the office of speaker ; and on one occasion had the firmness to order 
the doors of the assembly closed against the governor, until a bill, then under 
discussion, could be passed, and which his Excellency had determined to prevent 
by an immediate prorogation. In 17.58 he was appointed a judge of the supreme 
court of the colony, which he resigned in 1773, and died October 11, 1775. Dur- 
ing his whole life, and in every situation, he was the unyielding advocate of the 
rights of the people against every species of royal encroachment; and no man par- 
ticipated more largely of the public confidence and respect. By suffering a cow,' 
mon recovery, the life ealate, devised to him by the will of his father, was 
changed into a fee, which he devised to his son Thomas for his life, with re- 
mainder, on failure of issue, to the testator's daughter Arrabella and her issue 
in tail. The said Thomas Jones, (more commonly called Judge Jones,) married a 
daughter of Lieut. Governor James De Lancey, and, espousing the royal cause 
in the revolution, was, on the restoration of peace, compelled to leave the country ; 
upon which he retired to England, where he died. The large and substantial 
mansion now possessed by General Thomas Floyd Jones, was etected by 
Judge Jones shortly anterior to the war, and was doubtless much superior to 
any private residence at that period upon Long Island. William Jones, the third 
son of Captain Jones, and father of the subject of this notice, was born April 25, 
1708, and married a daughter of Captain John Jackson of Hempstead, and by 
whom he had sixteen children, fourteen of whom lived to have families. He was 
a highly respected and intelligent former, and resided at West-Neck in the town 
of Oyster-Bay, where he built the dwelling-house now occupied by his grandson, 
Thomas Jones. He died August 29, 1779. His son, Samuel Jones, the object 
of this memoir, was born July 26, 1734. His early education was limited ; and 
while young, he chose the occupation of a sailor, in which capacity he made sev- 
eral voyages to Europe in the merchant service. He was ultimately deterred 
from prosecuting the business further by the impressions made upon his imagi- 
nation in a dream, in which he fancied the loss of the vessel in which he was 
about to embark upon another voyage. He was next placed in the office of 
AVilliam Smith, an eminent lawyer of New- York, who was subsequently chief- 
justice of the colony, and afterwards of Lower Canada. Mr. Jones was in due 
time admitted to the bar, and in a surprisingly short period found himself sur- 
rounded by friends and honored with an extensive and lucrative practice. For 
his exemplary industry, high attainments, and great purity of character, he pre- 
sented a model for the imitation of all who aimed at distinction in jurisprudence. 
His office was sought by students, and, besides the late De Witt Clinton, he 
instructed many who afterwards rose to much distinction. At the dawn of the 
revolutionary contest he was called into the public councils, and continued to fill 
important and responsible offices till age admonished him to retire to private life. 
He spent the remainder of his days upon his farm at West-Neck, indulging his 



340 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

taste for reading and observation, the fruits of which were communicated to the 
world through the medium of tlie press. He died November 21, 1819. JSuch 
was the estimation in which lie was held by the legal profession, that his 
opinions were generally acquiesced in for their accuracy and justice. He was 
often in the assembly ; and in 1778 was a member of the convention that adopted 
the constitution of the United States, of which body his intimate friend, George 
Clinton, was president. It is well known that much contrariety of opinion pre- 
vailed in that body, and that the result was a matter of e.xpediency and com- 
promise among the members. He drew most of the amendments proposed, and 
which were subsequently adopted as a part of that instrument. He was, in 
short, indefatigable in every situation ; and nothing was ever permitted to inter- 
rupt the performance of any pubhc duty. In 1789 he was associated with the 
late Richard Varick in revising the statutes of this state, which was executed 
principally by Mr. Jones, with uncommon accuracy and expedition. He was 
the same year appointed recorder of New-York, the duties of which were dis- 
charged with ability and integrity, till he was succeeded, in 1797, by the Hon. 
James Kent. In 1796 he was requested by Governor Jay to draft a law for 
establishing and regulating the office of comptroller, to which he was appointed, 
and which he retained for several years. "I rely, (says the late Dr. Hosack,) 
on the testimony of others, when I speak of the legal talents of the late Samuel 
Jones: common consent has indeed assigned him the highest attainments in 
jurisprudence, and the appellation of ihe. father of the Neio-York bar. He justly 
ranked among the most profound and enlightened jurists of this or any other 
country, and acted a useful and conspicuous part in organizing our courts and 
judici ay system after the revolution. He was a liberal and enlightened Whig, 
and advocated the cause of independence with zeal and success." " No one, (says 
Chancellor Kent,) surpassed him in clearness of intellect, and in moderation and 
extreme simplicity of character; no one equalled him in his accurate knowledge 
of the technical rules and doctrines of real property, and in familiarity with the 
tkiltui and elaborate, but now obsolete and mysterious, black-letter-learning of 
the common law." He was distinguished for coolness, candor, and deliberation 
in debate, and sought the substantial rather than the showy part of an orator. 
He left five sons— Samuel, William, Elbert, Thomas, and David. The first- 
named has held the office of chancellor of this state, and is now chief-justice of 
the superior court of the city of New-York. 

Elias Hicks. This distinguished individual among the Society of Friends, 
was born in the town of North Hempstead on the 19th of March, 1748. His 
education was extremely limited, and at the age of seventeen he was placed an 
apprentice to the trade of a carpenter, which he pursued with diligence for seve- 
ral years, and was laborious and industrious in a high degree. On the 2d 
of January, 1771, he married Jemima, daughter of Jonathan Seaman of Jericho, 
and went to reside in the house of his father-in-law, where he spent the remain- 
der of his life. He left several daughters, but none of his sons lived to maturity. 
His connection with the Friends probably led him at an early period lo em- 
brace their sentiments, which he advocated and enforced with zeal and ability 
ever after. He began his public labors in the Society in 1795, and travelled, at 
diiferent periods, over a great portion of the United States, from Maine to Ohio, 
and in the province of Canada. In 1771 he visited every town upon Long Isl- 
and, and held one or more meetings in each. In 1793 he travelled in New En- 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 341 

gland, and went as far as Portland in Maine ; being absent five months, and pass- 
ing over a distance of more than two thousand miles. In 1798 he traversed the 
States of New-York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, a dis- 
tance of sixteen hundred miles, and held one hundred and forty -three meetings. 
In 1803 he entered the province of Upper Canada, and returned through western 
J^ew-York to Saratoga, a distance of more than fifteen hundred miles. In 1806 
he again explored New England, travelling more than a thousand miles, and held 
sixty meetings. In 1810 he went to Ohio, and returned through Pennsylvania 
and New- York ; performing a journey of two thousand miles. These are only 
a part of the immense labors of this indefatigable man; and it is reasonable to 
believe that, during his public ministry, he must have travelled, at difterent times, 
more than ten thousand miles, and that he pronounced on those occasions at 
least one tiiousand public discourses. 

He likewise found time to write and publish much upon religious subjects, 
upon war, and the practice of negro slavery. He was the friend and advocate of 
civil and religious liberty ; and through a long life, it is believed that he acted up 
to the sentiment which he publicly proclaimed. Of his character end qualifica- 
tions as a religious teacher, as well as the utility of liis preaching, different opi- 
nions have been, and will probably continue to be entertained. It has been alleg- 
ed that he was the occasion of all the controversies and dissensions which have 
of late years so unhappily distracted the Society of Friends; while it is denied by 
some, that he is chargeable therewith, and disclaim altogether the name of Hicks- 
ite, by which one party is designated. The attempt has rarely been made to im- 
pugn his moral character or inculpate the sincerity of his conduct. If he was 
wrong in any of his opinions, we are compelled to admit the honesty of his mo- 
tives ; and if he was a deluded man, none who knew him best can believe he 
was either an impostor or hypocrite. Whatever may bs thought of his religious 
creed, it must be confessed that through a long, laborious, and active life, few 
men have borne a more conspicuous part, or wielded a more powerful and endur- 
ing influence among those who were accustomed to attend upon his public dis- 
courses. He was a person of a rough exterior, but of vigorous intellect ; and 
making no pretensions to elegance of style, he reasoned with much force, and ad- 
dressed himself to the every-day, common-sense, rather than the imagination of 
his auditors. That he was no ordinary individual, must be acceded by all who 
are capable of appreciating the extent of his exertions, and the unwavering con- 
fidence with which he maintained, through a long course of years, the opinions 
and doctrines which he adopted in early life. 

TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 

This town is bounded north by North Hempstead, east by 
Oyster-Bay, south by the ocean, and west by Jamaica. It ori- 
ginally included the territory now comprising tlie town of North- 
Hempstead. of which a partition took place in 1784. In our 
account of Southampton, it has been seen that an unsuccessful 
attempt was made by some of the settlers of that town, in 1640, 
to form a settlement independent of the Dutch, in the vicinity 



M 



342 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

of Cow-Bay, and which was frustrated by the interference of 
the governor. The first permanent settlement in this town is 
supposed to have been commenced on the site of the present 
village of Hempstead in 1643, by a few emigrants from New 
England, who came originally from a place commonly called 
Hemel-HewTpstead, twenty-three miles from the city of Lon- 
don. These persons found it indispensable to their safety to 
submit to the jurisdiction of the Dutch government, and accord- 
ingly took the necessary measures to obtain its permission and 
sanction in furtherance of their wishes. On the 16th of Nov. 
16-14, a patent or ground-brief was granted by Governor Kieft, 
of which the most material part is as follows : 

" Know all men whom these presents may in any wise concern, that I, Wil- 
liam Kieft, (or Kierst), Esq. governor ot'ihe province called New Netherlands, 
with the council of state there established, by virtue of a commission under the 
hand and seal of the high and mighty lords, the States-General of the United 
Belgic Provinces, and trom his Highness, Frederick Hendrick, Prince of Orange, 
and the right honorable the Lords Bewint Hibbers of the "West India Company, 
have given and granie«l, and by virtue of these we do give and grant, unto Ro- 
bert Fordham, John Stickian, John Ogden, John Karnian, John Lawrence, and 
Jonas Wood, with tlieir heirs, executors, administrators, successors or associates, 
or any they shall join in association with them, a certain quantity of land, with 
all the havens, harbors, rivers, creeks, woodland, marshes, and all other appur- 
tenances thereunto belonging, lying and being upon and about a certain place 
called the Great Plains, on Long Island, from the East River to the South Sea, 
and from a certain harbor now commonly called and known by the name of 
Hempsted Bay, and westward as far as Matthew Garritsons Bay ; to begin at 
the head of the said two bays, and for to run in direct lines that they may be the 
same latitude in breadth on the south side as on the north, for them, the said pa- 
tentees, actually, really, and perpetually to enjoy in as large and ample manner 
as their own free land of inheritance, and as far eastward, in case the said paten- 
tees and their associates shall procure one hundred families to sett4edown within 
the said limit of five years after the date hereof: giving and granting, and by 
virtue of these presents we do give and grant unto the said patentees and their 
associates, with their heirs and successors, full power and authority upon the 
said land, to build a town or towns, with such foitifications as to them shall seem 
expedient, with a temple or temples to use and exercise the reformed religion, 
■which they profess, with the ecclesiastical discipline thereunto belonging; like- 
wise giving and granting, and by virtue of these presents we do give and grant 
to the said patentees, their associates, heirs, and successors, full power and au- 
thority to erect a body politic or civil combination among themselves, and to 
nominate certain magistrates, one or more under the number of eight, of the 
ablest, discreetest, approved honest men, and him or them annually to present to 
the Grovernor of this Province, for the time being, for the said Grovernor-general 
for the time being, to elect and establish them for the execution of government 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 



343 



among them, as well civil, political, as judicial." Which said ground-brief or 
instrument also contains various other grants of power, privileges, and franchi- 
ses to the said grantees, their associates, heirs, and successors, touching their go- 
vernment, the execution of the laws, and the exercise of rights and authority ; 
such as tlie holding of courts to decide causes, civil and criminal ; and to give the 
first sentence for the deprivation of life, limb, stigmatizing, or burn-marking of 
any malefactor, if they in their conscience should deem them worthy ; and to cause 
the execution of the sentence, if the parly condemned made not his appeal to tlie 
chief-court, holden weekly in the Fort Amsterdam ; and from the expiration of 
ten years from the first general peace with the Indians, one tenth part of all the 
revenue derived from the ground uiaaurcd with the plow or hoc, should belong to 
the governor, if the same shall be demanded before it is housed. 

The first division of land, of which any record remains, took 
place in the year 1647 ; which shows the following persons to 
have already become residents in the town : 



John Karman, 
Jeremy Wood, 
Richard Gildersleeve, 
William Raynor, 
Benjamin Coe, 
Jolin Ogden, 
Samuel Strickland, 
John Toppin, 
Jonas Wood, 
John Fordham, 
William Lawrence, 
Henry Hudson, 
Thomas Ireland, 
Richard Valentine, 
William Thickstone, 
Nicholas Tanner, 
William Smith, 
Edmond Wood, 



Thomas Armitage, 

Simon Sering, 

Terry Wood, 

Thomas Willet, 

Henry Plerson, 

Joseph Scott, 

Henry Whitson, 
Richard Lewis, 

Thomas Stephenson, 
John Coe, 
William Scott, 

John Storge, 
William Williams, 

James Smith, 
William Rogers, 
Richard Ogden, 
Robert Jackson, 
John Foucks, 
John Lawrence, 



Thomas Sherman, 
Francis Yates, 
John Ellison, 
Abraham Smith, 
William Shadding, 
Thomas ffoster, 
Roger Lines, 
John Lewis, 
Christopher ftoster, 
Samuel Clark, 
John Hudd, 
Thomas Pope, 
Daniel Whitehead, 
Robert Williams, 
Edw ard Raynor, 
John Sewall, 
John Smith, sen., 
Samuel Baccus, 
John Stricklan. 



John Smith, jr., 

In conseqtience of frequent disturbances between the English 
settlers and their Indian neighbors, and particularly with the 
Masapequa tribe, ameetlng was convened at Hempstead on the 
12th of March, 1650, and a treaty happily concluded between 
the governor and Tackapausha, Sachem of Masapequa, with 
other Sachems and head-men of divers petty tribes ; in which, 
among other things, it was agreed that the people of Hempstead, 
according to the lines expressed in their patent, and what they 
had purchased, should thereafter enjoy the same without mo- 
lestation from the Sachems or their people. In pursuance of 



344 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

the stipulations in this treaty, the followino: document was exe- 
cuted by the Indians on the 4th of July, 1657 : 

" Know all men by these presents, that we, the Indians of Massapeg?, Meri- 
cocke, and Rockaway, whose names be hereunder written, for ourselves and all 
the rest of the Indians that do claim any right or interest in the purchase that 
Hempstead bought in the year 1643, and within the hounds and limits of the 
whole tract of land concluded upon with the governor of Manhattans, as it is in 
this paper specified, do, by these presents, ratify and confirm, to them and their 
heirs forever, freely, firmly, quietly, and peaceably, for them, and their heirs and 
successors forever, to enjoy, without any molestation or trouble from us, i r any 
that shall pretend any claim or title unto it, the Mentoake Sachem being present 
at the confirmation. In witness whereof, we, whose names be here-under 
written have hereunto subscribed. 

" The mark ((•;?■) of Takapasha. the Sachem of Massapeage. 
The mark / ^Jt^ of Wantagh, the Mantaoke Sachem. 

The mark ( J^ \ ofChegonoe. 

The mark f Qrr) of Romege. 

The mark (Ew'c ) of Mangwanh. 
The mark (X)) of Waakeatis. 
The mark (N« ) of Rumasuekaman. 
The mark (4) of Ocraking. 
The mark (M) of Worotum. 
" In the presence of Richard Gil- \ 

dersleeve, John Seaman, John V Scripsil per me, 

Hicks. ) John James, Clerk." 

In the treaty above mentioned, made in March, 1656, three 
specific articles were agreed upon as follows : 1. That all inju- 
ries formerly passed in the time of the governor's predecessors 
should be forgiven and forgotten since the year 1645, and 
never to be remembered. 2. That Tackapausha being chosen 
the chief Sachem by all the Indian Sachems from Masapequa, 
Secatogue, Mericoke, Rockaway and Canarse, with the names of 
the rest, both Sachems and natives ; he hath agreed to put him 
and themselves, and their lands, under the protection of the 
Dutch, accordingtotheagreementmadeat Hartford; and agree to 
give no countenance to their or the governor's enemies. And 
3d. That the inhabitants of Hempstead, according to the lines ex- 
pressed in the patent, and what they have purchased, shall en- 
joy it wiihout trouble from the Sachem or his people, either of 
person or estate. 

On payment of the price agreed upon by the inhabitants of 



TOWN OF HKAIPSTKAU. 343 

the town for their lands previously purchased, the following 
instrument of satisfaction was executed by the Sachems and 
head-men : 

" We, the Indians above written, do hereby acknowledge to have received of 
the magistrates and inhabitants of Hempstead all our pay in full satisfaction, 
for the tract of land sold unto them, according to the above and within written 
agreement, and according to patent and purchase. The general bounds is as 
followeth: beginning at a place called Mattagarretts Bay, and so running upon 
a direct line north and south, from north to south, and from sea to sea ; the 
bounds running from Hempstead Harbor, due east to a point of trees adjoining 
to the land of Robert Williams, where we left marked trees, the same line run- 
ning from sea to sea, the other line beginning at a marked tree standing at the 
east end of the great plains, and from that tree running upon a due south line, 
and at the south sea by a marked tree made in a neck called Mashatchoung, and 
from thence upon the same line to the south sea. And we, whose names are 
hereunto subscribed, do further engage ourselves and our successors to uphold 
and maintain this our present act, and all our former agreement, to be just and 
lawful ; that the aforesaid inhabitants of Hempstead shall enjoy the said lands 
according to the marked bounds, with all privileges thereunto any way belonging 
or appertaining, for them, their heirs and successors for ever. And we do bind 
ourselves to save and defend them harmless from any manner of claim or pre- 
tence that shall be made to disturb them in their right, or in any part thereof, 
hereby binding us and our successors to cause them to enjoy the same peaceably, 
without any molestation or interruption, for them, their heirs and successors 
for ever. Whereunto we have subscribed this the eleventh day of May, anno 
1658, Stilo Novo. 

Wantuck, Tachapausha, 

Cheeknaw, Martom, 

Sayasstock, Peese Roma. 

"A true copy, compai-ed with the original, and both of them being written by 
me, John James, Clerk." 

At a town meeting, held July 10, 1658, the town deputed 
Richard Gildersleeve to go down to the Manhattans to agree 
with the governor concerning the tythes, which are not to ex- 
ceed one hundred sheeples of wheat, and to be delivered at the 
town harbor. At the same time they agreed to pay the herds- 
man that attended their cattle twelve shillings sterling a week 
in butter, corn, and oats, at fixed prices. Six bushels of corn 
was allowed by the town for the killing of a wolf; and the price 
of corn was two shillings and sixpence a bushel, wheat four 
shillings, pork three pence a pound, butter -sixpence, lodging 
two pence a night, beer two pence a mug, board five shillings 
a week, victuals sixpence a meal, and labor two and sixpence 

44 



346 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

a day. It was further agreed by the town, that the inhabitants 
should be ready at the sounding of the horn to turn out their 
cows, and the keeper was required to be ready at the time the sun 
was half an hour high, to drive them to the pasture, and about 
half an hour before sun-down, to bring them home again, and 
to drive thein one day in each week to Cow-Neck. 

At this time Cow-Neck was enclosed by a fence, extending 
from the head of Little-Neck Bay to the head of Hempstead 
Harbor, each person being entitled to put in a number of cows 
to fatten, in proportion to the number of standing-gates, or 
pannels offence made by them ; and afterwards in the distribu- 
tion of the land, the shaie allowed was adjusted by the same 
rule, in consequence of which it was divided among a few per- 
sons only. Except the great plains, much of the common 
lands of the town was anciently enclosed in large fields, for 
pasturing of different kinds of stock, and denominated accord- 
ing to the use intended, as the ox-pasture, the cow-pasture, 
calf-pasture, (fcc. 

" At a town meelin^, March 14, 1G59, there was granted unto John Roads of 
Rusdorp, one great hollow, containing about two acres, the which he is to secure 
in a sufficient fence, and possess it for seven years, paj'ing yearly eighteen pence 
the acre, with the tythe, the whicU he is to pay at Hempstead." 

"At the aforesaid town meeting it was granted unto Thomas Jacobs, one 
hollow, containing one and a half acre, upon the terms above specified; lilcewise 
unto Thomas Ellison one and a half acre lying by the Islund of Trees. And 
there is granted unto Robert Williams, by general vote of town meeting, six 
acres of meadow land, formerly in possession of Roger Lines, that, paying all 
rates and duties belonging thereunto, he shall enjoy the said meadow for him, 
his heirs and assigns for ever. Also, the same day was let to Robert Williams 
the town barn for this ensuing year, for the sum of fifty-three shillings, to be 
paid in corn at the usual prices, and the yard is to be common both to the house 
and barn." In 1G59 the town licensed John Smith to keep an ordinary, and to 
sell therein meat and drink, and to lodge strangers in such a manner as not to 
be offensive to the laws of God or man. " It was voted and agreed at the same 
town meeting, that any person absenting himself or herself from public worship 
on the Lord's day, or other public days, should, for the first offence pay _/?t5e 
shillings, for the second ten, for the third twenty, and after that be subjected to 
corporal jmnishnent or banishment." "At a town meeting, held November 26, 
1684, it was concluded by a major vote, that Left. John Jackson, Justice Searing, 
and Jonathan Smith, sen., should go to New-York to meet the Indians, and 
lliere to agitate concerning their lands, and also to endeavor at the purchasing 
of a patent for the town; and also the ending the difference concerning the 
bounds between our neighboring town, Jamaica, and us, with fiill power to 



I 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 347 

make a final end. There is also granted unto Robert Williams three acres of 
the town land, lying in the bevil, for the sum of three pounds, to be paid in such 
corn, as, by the blessing, of God, the land shall produce." 

This town continued for more than forty years to enjoy un- 
disturbed the rights and privileges, and to exercise the powers 
and duties authorized by the patent of Governor Kieft, and by 
which the town was also incorporated. But in the year 1683 
his Excellency Governor Dongan, who was an occasional resi- 
dent of this town, gave the people thereof, as well as others, 
to be informed of his determination to compel them to purchase 
from him new patents for their lands, the price of which he 
claimed as a perquisite of his office, but to which the people 
were reluctant to submit ; and when it was found no longer 
avoidable, they seemed particularly anxious to procure a new 
patent as cheap as possible, which caused much delay, and pro- 
duced no little difficulty between the governor and the inhabit- 
ants. The followino- extracts from the town records relate to 
this matter : 

" At a town meetinsf, held the 16th of February, 1683, Mr. 
Seaman, Mr. John Jackson, and John Tredwell, were chosen 
to go down to New- York, in order to the getting a patent for the 
whole bounds of the town according to the first purchase and 
the draft drawn." The object not being accomplished, it was 
again voted, March 31, 1684, "That those who go down to 
New- York in respect of getting a patent for our own town 
bounds, that they get it as reasonable as they can, for the good 
of themselves and the rest of the inhabitants, and also upon as 
good terms." Nothing yet being effected, again, " At a town 
meeting, April 4, 1684, Mr. John Jackson, Mr. Symon Searing, 
and Mr. John Tredwell are appointed to go down to New- 
York by the governor's order sent to the town, and to see the 
getting of a patent for the town, giving these, our deputies, full 
power to act for us and in our behalf as fully as if we were 
personally present, provided that our lands shall be assured to 
us, our heyres and successors for ever, to be our free lands of 
inheritance, we rendering and paying such acknowledgments 
as shall be agreed upon between the governor and our deputys." 
The purposes of the deputies not being accomplished, again, "At 
a town meeting, December 12, 1684, there was chosen by the 



348 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

major vote, Justice Searing and Nathaniel Pearsall to go and 
request the governor for a patent, and to get it on as reasonable 
terms as they can ; and what these our deputies do, shall be as 
authentic as if we were personally present ourselves.'' Still we 
find them unsuccessful ; and, " At a town meeting, April 3, 
1685, there was chosen by a major vote, John Jackson, John 
Tredwell, and Jonathan Smith, sen., to go to York to get a 
patent for our town upon good terms as possible, and what our 
deputies do we shall feel ourseh^es obliged." 

After all these exertions on behalf of the town, a patent was 
finally obtained, of which the following is a copy, and furnishes 
a familiar example of tlie numerous patents issued by Gover- 
nor Dongan, out of which he and his otficers contrived to 
raise no inconsiderable revenue from the pockets of the people. 

" Thomas Dongan, Lieutenant-governor and Vice-admiral under his Royal 
Highness James Duke of York, of New-York and its dependencies in America, 
to all whom these presents shall come, sendeth greeting: whereas there is a cer- 
tain town in dueen's County, called and known by the name of Hempsted, upon 
Long Island, situate, lying and being on the south side of the Great Plains, hav- 
ing a certain tract of laud thereunto belonging, the bounds whereof begin at a 
marked tree standing at the head of Matthew Garrison's Bay, and so running 
from thence upon a direct south line due south to the main sea, and from the said 
tree a direct north line to the Sound or East River, and so round the points of the 
necks till it comes to Hempsted Harbor, and so up the harbor to a certain barren 
sand-beach, and from thence up a direct line till it comes to a marked tree on the 
east side of Cantiagge Point, and from thence a south line to the middle of the 
Plains, and from thence a due east line to the utmost extent of the Great Plains, 
and from thence upon a straight line to a certain tree marked in a neck called 
Maskachoung, and so from thence up a due south line to the south sea, and the 
said south sea is to be the south bounds from the east line to the west line, and 
the Sound or East River to be the northerly bounds, as according to several deeds 
or purchases from the India owners, and the patent from the Dutch governor, 
William Kieft, relation thereto being had doth more fully and at large appear. 

"Now Know Ye, that by virtue of the commission and authority unto me 
given by his Royal Highness, Jan>es, Duke of York and Albany, Lord Propri- 
etor of this Province, in consideration of the premises and the quit rents herein- 
after reserved, I have given, granted, ratified, and confirmed, and by these pre- 
sents do give, grant, ratify, and confirm unto Captain John Seaman, Simon 
Searing, John Jackson, James Pine, senior, Richard Glldersleave, senior, and Na- 
thaniel Pearsall, as Patentees for and on the behalf of themselves and their asso- 
ciates, the freeholders and inhabitants of the said town of Hempsted, their heirs, 
successors, and assigns for ever ; all the be fore- recited tract and tracts, parcel and 
parcels of land and islands, within tlie said bounds and limits, together with all 
and singular the woods, underwoods, plains, meadows, pastures, quarries, 
marshes, waters, lakes, causeways, rivers, beaches, fishing, hawking, hunting 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 349 

and fowling, with all liberties, privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances, to the 
said tract of land and premises belonging or in any wise appertaining, to have 
and to hold the said tract of land and premises, with all and singular the appur- 
tenances before mentioned and intended to be given, granted, ratified, and confirm- 
ed unto the said Captain John Seaman. Simon Searing, John Jackson, James 
Pine, senior, Richard Gildersleave, senior, and Nathaniel Pearsall, ilie said pa- 
tentees and their associates, their heirs, successors and assigns, to the proper use, 
benefit and behoof of them, the said patentees and their associates, their heirs, 
successors and assigns for ever; to be holden of his said Royal Highness, his 
heirs and assigns, in free and common soccage, according to the tenor of East 
Greenwich in the county of Kent, in his Majesty's kingdom of England. Pro- 
vided always, that neither this patent, nor any thing herein contained, shall be 
construed or intended to the prejudice or infringement of any right, claim or 
pretence, which his Royal Highness, James Duke of York, his heirs and succes- 
sors now hath or hereafter may have, to a certain tract of land within the bounds 
of this said patent, commonly called or known by the name of Hempstead Little 
Plains, and all the woodland and plains between the said Little Plains and the bay, 
which lies betwixt Rockaway Meadows and the said meadows, bounded on the 
east with Foster's Meadow River, and on the west with Hempsted west line, and 
likewise one entire piece of land containing seven hundred acres, lying and being 
on Cow-Neck. And I do hereby likewise confirm and grant unto the said pa- 
tentees and their associates, their heirs, successors and assigns, all the privileges 
and immunities belonging to a town within this government. Yielding, render- 
ing and paying yearly and every year at the city of New- York, under his Royal 
Highness, or to such office or offices as by him shall be appointed, to receive the 
same, twenty bushels of good winter wheat, or four pounds in good current mo- 
ney of New-York, on or before the twenty-fifth day of March. In testimony 
wherof, I have caused these presents to be entered upon record in the secretary's 
oifice of the said Province, and the public seal thereof have hereunto affixed and 
signed with my hand, this seventeer.th day of April, in the tliirty.seventh year of 
his Majesty's reign, and in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and 
eighty-five," 

" Thomas Dongan." 
" J. Spragg, Secretary." 

Immediately after the patent was procured it was resolved 
in town meeting, that a tax of two and a half pence per acre 
should be assessed upon the freeholders of the town, for de- 
ffayingf the price of the patent, the expenses of those employed 
in obtaining it, and for other purposes. The tax list made on 
this occasion is presumed to include all the owners of land at 
that time in the town, and is therefore worthy of preservation 
as exhibiting the names of the principal inhabitants of Hemp- 
5lead in the year 1685. 



350 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



NaTnes. 



Acres. Names. 



Acres. Names. 



Acres. 



Robert Dinge 
Edmund Titus '■ 
Samuel Titus 
Hannah Hudson 
William Gripman 
John Brick 
Sam. Ray nor 
John Serion 
Simon Serion 
James Pine, sen. 
Nathaniel Pine 
Solomon Simmons 
William Smith 
Richard Denton 
■\ Joseph Langdon 
William Jecoks 
Thomas Seaman 
John Smith, jr. Rock. 
Daniel Bedell 
John Williams 
James Pine 
Elias Dorian 
Aaron Underdunk 
Widow Valentine 
Benj. Simmons 
John Morrell 
Richaixl Elison 
Edward Hare 
Christopher Dean 
William Jones 
Samuel Embree 
Tim. Halstead, jr. 
Captain Jackson 
Samuel Denton 
Isaac Smith 
John Corn well 
Edward Cornwell 
Joseph Balden 
Jona. Smith, sen. 
John Smith. 
Joseph Smith 
Joseph Wood 
Jer. Wood, sen. 
Josias Starr 
V Richard Stiles 
John Townsend 
John Dozenboro 
John Burland 



Y 



2-2 Elias Burland ^ 

150 William Wetherle 
50 John Pine 

22 Joshua Jacocks 
25 Jonathan Seaman 
27 George Baldwin 
43 Richard Minthorne 
100 Thomas GildersUeve 
171 Jonathan Smith 
500 Thos. Southerds, sen 

9 Thomas Rushmore 
163 John Champion 
100 Goodm Smith, sen. 

50 John Carl 
110 John Mott 

80 Thos. Elison, sen. 
108 John Elison, sen. 
230 Rich. GildersUeve, 
130 Rich. GildersUeve, jr. 
240 Richard Totten 

219 Arthur Albertus 
100 John Johnson 
100 James Beates 

40 William Lee 

151 Thomas Ireland 
137 Peter Johnson 

60 Henry IManiford 

70 Henry Lininton 
100 Richard Osborn 

66 Obediah Valentine 
100 Widow Willis 

78 Hope Willis 
430 Harman Johnson 
240 Barnes Egleson 

22 Jacob Peterson 

50 John Bedell 

50 Thomas Cheesman 

50 John Smith, Rock. 

220 Abraham Smith 
260 Edward Sprag 
15G Jeremiah Smith 

10 John Smith, blue 
300 Jolm Carman 

14 Caleb Carman 

152 Benj. Carman 
46 Moses Embree 

100 Henry Johnson 

25 Abraham Frost 



25 Jer. Wood, jr. 68 

30 William Valentine 40 

101 Robert Bedell 3^ 

88 Samuel Pine 60 

65 Thomas Oakly 70 

37 Jonathan Burg 20 

100 Joseph Ginnin 80 

10 Joseph Williams 100 

180 Richard Valentine 71 

214 John Bates 5 

277 John Bates, jr. 53 

187 John Elison 125 

200 William Beachman 130 

208 Col. Thos. Dongan 200 

70 Mr. Sprag 288 

270 Edward Avery 70 

60 Richard Combs 26 

100 Elias Bailey 54 

280 John WoUy 139 

65 Thos. Daniels 24 

52 William Thome 150 
25 Robert Hobs 24 
59 Robert Hobs, jr. 25 
40 Thomas Hutchings 18 
70 Nathaniel Pearsal 236 
50 Thomas Pearsal 190 
75 Henry Willis 75 

352 Cornelius Barnes 100 

183 John Foster 55 

44 Captain Seaman 400 

172 Sam. Seaman 3 

120 John Coe 150 

25 John Smith, Rock. 50 

53 Peter Totten 21 
25 John Seaman, jr. 58 
46 William Thickstone 83 
22 Daniel Pearsal 190 
50 George Pearsal 190 

150 Henry Willis 140 

92 Benj. Burtsal 50 

100 William Davis 50 

368 Joseph Mott 66 

180 John Trcdwell 350 

ISO Tim. Halsted, sen. 300 

70 James Rily 50 

70 Adam Mott 64 

25 Harman Flower 59 

50 Joseph Petit 34 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 351 



JVarnes. 


Acres. J^amcs. 


Acres. J^avies. 


Acres. 


William Heger 


55 Thomas Willis 


30 Sam. Smith 


11 


John Hawkins 


64 Robert Miller 


36 Peter Smith 


11 


Sam. Allen 


41 William Johnson 


25 Thomas Southard, 


Jr. 69 


William Ware 


83 Ephraim Valentine 40 John Southard 


3 


John Hubs 


56 Robert Bedell 


3 John Robinson 


100 


Ciiristr. Yeomaiis 


150 







From the above list of inhabitants, it will be seen that Col. 
Thomas Dongan, governor of the province, was the owner of 
two hundred acres of land in the town. He had a farm and 
country residence at that period on the north side of the plains, 
and is supposed to be the same now in possession of the heirs 
of the late Tuthill Reeve, a little west of the place called 
Hyde-Park. 

On the 6th of April, 1784, an act was passed, entitled " A71 
act to divide the township of Hevipstead into two towns,^^ by 
which it was enacted that all that part of the said township 
south of the country road that leads from Jamaica, nearly through 
the middle of Hempstead Plains, to the east part thereof, should 
be included in one township, and be thereafter called and known 
by the name of South-Henipstead ; and all the residue of the 
said township of Hempstead should be included in one town- 
ship, and be thereafter called and known by the name of North- 
Hempstead. That the inhabitants of either town should con- 
tinue to enjoy the right of oystering, fishing, and clamming in 
the waters of the other. The name of South- Hemp stead was 
changed to Hempsted by a subsequent act passed the 7th of 
April, ISOl. 

It is believed that no house for religious worship was erected 
in this town beyond the limits of the present village of Hemp- 
stead, (except at Near-Rockaway,) till within seven years last 
past. Tlie first Presbyterian church was erected in the north- 
west part of the village in the year 1648, being four years 
after the settlement of the town, and the charter or patent from 
the Dutch governor. It stood near the present Burly-Pond. 
This building was twenty-four feet square, and continued to be 
occupied till 1673, when, " At a town meeting, held the first 
day of April, 1673, Mr. Seaman and John Smith [Blue] were 
chosen to agree with Joseph Carpenter to build a new meeting- 



352 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

house, thirty feet long, twenty-two icide, and twelve feet stud, 
with a leanto on each side." This house was erected near the 
spot now occupied by the Episcopal church, and came, as well 
as the church lands, into the possession of the Episcopalians, 
by whom they have since been held. 

The Rev. Richard Denton, a Presbyterian or Independent, 
was the first minister settled in this town. He had been a preach- 
er at Halifax in England, from whence he came to Watertown, 
Massachusetts, in 1634. In 1635 he removed with a iev7 as- 
sociates to Connecticut, and connuenced the settlement of 
Weathersfield. In 1641 he went to Stamford, and in 1644, 
with a part of his congregation, came to Hempstead, who, 
with a few others already here, assisted in organizing the set- 
tlement of the town. He remained here till his death in 1663, 
the year preceding the conquest of New- York. Cotton Ma- 
ther, in his Magnalia, represents Mr. Denton as an excellent man 
and able preacher, and that he left behind him a manuscript 
system o( divinity, entitled ^' SoUloquia >Sac7'a," which was 
spoken of, by those who had seen it, in high terms. Although 
many of his posterity still remain in this town, no trace of the 
work spoken of has been discovered among them. It has not 
been satisfactorily ascertained that any clergyman was settled 
here from the decease of Mr. Denton, till the 6th of May, 
16S2, when the town agreed to invite the Rev. Jeremiah Ho- 
bart to be their minister, and agreed to give him a three acre 
lot, where it was most convenient, also fifty acres of woodland, 
to be taken up where he pleased ; his cattle to have liberty of 
commons, and himself to have the use of all the parsonage lands 
and meadows. It was likewise agreed that a house should be 
built for him upon the town lot, (where the Episcopal parson- 
age now stands), thirty-eight feet long, eighteen feet wide, and 
ten feet between the joists, and to be a comfortable house to 
dwell in. Then follow the names of seventy-nine subscribers 
to his salary of seventy pounds a-year, with fire-wood free cost. 
The salary was to be paid in corn and cattle at the current 
price. Mr. Hobart was the son of the Rev. Peter Hobart, of 
Hingham, Massachusetts, and brother to the Rev. Joshua Ho- 
bart of Southold. He was born in England in 1630, and came 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 353 

over with his father while a child, in 1635. He graduated at 
Harvard College iii 165U, and preached first at Topsfield, Mas- 
sachusetts. He came here in 16^2, and soon after married a 
daughter of the Rev. Joseph Whiting of Southampton. From 
hence he removed, in 1696, to Haddam, Connecticut ; where he 
died in 1717, at the age of eighty-seven, on the Sabbath, be- 
tween meetings, having preached in the forenoon of that day. 
He was grandfather of the celebrated David Brainard, one of 
the most admired preachers of his time. For more than one 
hundred years from the removal of Mr. Hobart, the Presby- 
terian church here had no settled clergyman, depending 
upon the casual preaching of missionaries, or upon ministers 
hired for short periods ; and the congregation became, in conse- 
quence, much diminished by the union of nvdny of its mem- 
bers with the Episcopal church. The Rev. Charles Webster 
was installed the pastor of this church in 1818. He is the son 
of the late Charles R. Webster, of Albany, and graduated at 
Union College in 1813. He continued here respectable and 
useful in a high degree, till he was dismissed at his own re- 
quest in 1837. By his industry, zeal, and perseverance, the 
church edifice was enlarged, and the congregation much 
strengthened and increased. He is now comfortably settled at 
Middletown, New Jersey. His successor is the Rev. Sylves- 
ter Woodbridge, Jr. son of the Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge of 
New- York. He was born at Sharon, Connecticut, June 15, 
1813 ; graduated at Union College in 1830 ; and was settled as 
the minister of Westhampton, Suffolk County, in 1734 ; from 
whence he removed to this place in 1737. 

A new Presbyterian church was erected in the village of 
Hempstead in 1762, which was much injured by the British 
troops, who had possession of it during the revolution, and was 
finally destroyed by fire in April, 1803. The present edifice 
was erected on the same spot a few years after, and was en- 
larged and improved in 1825. In the year'1701, the town, be- 
ing entirely destitute of a minister, made application to the 
society in England for propagating the gospel [in foreign 
parts. In pursuance of which the Rev. John Thomas, an Epis- 
copalian minister, arrived in 1704. By his prudence and amia- 

45 



354 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

ble conduct, the people were in general satisfied ; and he con- 
tinued to hve upon terms of mutual respect and confidence 
till his death in 1724. He was succeeded, in 1725, by the Rev. 
Thomas Jenny, with whom the records of the Episcopal church 
commence. This gentleman officiated in the church which had 
been erected by the Presbyterians in 1673, without any complaint 
or opposition, a greater part of whom became in the end reconcil- 
ed to the ceremonies; rites, and discipline of the Episcopal 
church. In 1734 this edifice was taken down, and another 
erected on the same spot, or very near it, for which a royal 
charter was obtained in 1735, whereby the freeholders and in- 
habitants of the town, in communion with the church of En- 
gland, were incorporated, by the '■'■name and style of St. 
George's Churchy Hemjystead ;" and by which the house then 
built, with half an acre of common land on which it stood, were 
granted them. This church was occupied from that period 
until 1822, when the present large and handsome edifice was 
erected. The ceremony of dedication being performed by 
Bishop Hobart, Sept. 19^ 1823. 

The Rev. Mr. Jenny removed from this church in 1742, and 
was succeeded the same year by the Rev. Samuel Seabury. 
He was the first minister of the Episcopal church at New-Lon- 
don, where he was settled in 1728, and remained till his remo- 
val to this parish, where he continued till his decease, June 15, 
1764. He left behind him a character that is held in high es- 
teem, and an example worthy of all imitation. His son, Sam- 
uel, born at New-London in 1728, graduated at Yale College 
in 1751, succeeded his father as minister at New-London ; 
and in 1784 was created bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Isl- 
and, which he held till his death, Feb. 25, 1796. The next 
minister of this church was the Rev. Leonard Cutting, gra- 
duated in 1754 at Pembroke College, Oxford, and whom an at- 
tachment to the principles of liberty had induced to visit our 
shores. In him were happily blended the polished habits 
of a gentleman with an extensive and profound erudition. 
His settlement here took place in 1766, and his resignation in 
1784. He had been a tutor in King's College, New- York, in 
1756, and was likewise professor of classical literature. Af- 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 355 

ter his settlement in this town, he opened and maintained a 
classical school of a high order, at which many young men 
were educated, some of whom subsequently acquired great emi- 
nence in different pursuits ; among this number may be men- 
tioned the late Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill and Edward Griswold. 
Mr. Cutting was succeeded, in March, 1785, by the Rev. Tho- 
mas Lambert Moore. He was born in the city of New-York 
in 1754, and received his education at King's (now Columbia) 
College. He was one of the best and most amiable of men, and 
labored zealously and successfully for the interests of his church 
and people till his death, April 20, 1799. The Right Reverend 
Richard C. Moore, Bishop of Virginia, is his brother; and 
esteemed one of the most able and eloquent men of the age. 
After the death of Mr. Moore the congregation were so fortu- 
nate as to procure the services of the Rev. John Henry Ho- 
bart. He was the son of Enoch Hobart of Philadelphia, where 
he was born, September 14, 1775. He was educated at Prince- 
ton College, where he graduated in 1793. Undetermined 
as to a profession, he entered upon the business of a mer- 
chant, but relinquished it for the study of theology, which he 
pursued under the direction of the late Bishop White of Penn- 
sylvania. In 1795 he was employed as a tutor in his alma ma- 
ter. His ordination took place in 1798. The next year he was 
settled as minister of Christ Church, New Brunswick ; from 
whence he removed to Hempstead in June, 1800. Here, ac- 
cording: to his own subsequent declaration, he passed some of 
his happiest days. His wife was a daughter of the Rev. Tho- 
mas Bradbury Chandler of Elizabethtown, a man of eminent 
talents, and distinguished for his able controversy with Dr. 
Chauncey, and a memoir of the Rev. Dr. Johnson, former 
president of Columbia College, In Dec. 1800, Mr. Hobart 
was invited to be assistant minister of Trinity Church, 
New- York, which he accepted, as a sphere of greater useful- 
ness, and better suited to the display of his extraordinary abili- 
ties. In 1811 he was elected bishop of the diocese upon the 
resignation of Bishop Moore. In 1823 he visited Europe, in 
which he made the tour of England, Scotland, and Switzerland ; 
also Rome, Venice, and Geneva ; and returned again to New- 



356 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

York in .1824. Wliile on a journey to the western part of this 
state, he was overtaken by disease at Auburn, where he died, 
Sept, 12, 1830. His remains were brought to the city of New- 
York, and interred under the chancel of Trinity Church, where 
an appropriate monument has been erected to his memory. 
The Rev. Seth Hart was the successor of Mr. Hobart in this 
town. He was born at Berhn, Connecticut, June 21, 1763, and 
graduated at Yale Collesre in 1T84. He was first settled as a 
minister at Wallingford, where he continued about six years, 
and removed here in the beginning of 1801. He was a good 
classical scholar, possessing a mild and amiable temper, with a 
disposition social and benevolent. Much of liis leisure time 
was devoted to the instruction of youth, and he acquired a high 
reputation as a teacher. A paralytic attack, in 1828, disabled 
him from the performance of the more active duties of his pro- 
fession, and occasioned his resignation in 1829. He died la- 
mented, the 16th of March, 1832, leaving a widow and several 
children. His eldest son, William Henry Hart, is an Episco- 
pal clergyman at Richmond, Virginia, and a man of excellent 
character. The Rev. Richard D. Hall was born in Philadel- 
phia in 1789, and, after officiating in several churches in his na- 
tive state, settled here in 1829, where he was faithful and assid- 
uous in the discharge of his parochial duties till 1834, when 
he voluntarily resigned, and returned again to Pennsylvania. 
He was succeeded the same year by the Rev. William M. Gar- 
michael. He is the son of Mr. James Carmichael of Albany, 
where he was born. June 28, 1804, and graduated at Hamilton 
College in 1826. In 1832 he was settled at Rye in the county 
of Westchester, from whence he removed to this town in Aug. 
1834 ; and has hitherto labored with fidelity and success to 
advance the interest and prosperity of the church and congre- 
gation. A beautiful organ has also been procured ; and 
Trinity Chapel, at Far Rockaway, is mainly indebted for its ex- 
istence to his zeal and perseverance. This chapel has been fur- 
nished with a bell through the liberality of Joseph and Oliver 
T. Hewlett of New-York. 

Hempstead Village, the largest and most populous in the 
town, is pleasantly situated on the southern margin of the great 



TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD. 357 

plains, twenty-one miles from New- York, and three from 
Queen's County court-house. It contains ten streets, mostly 
built upon ; has within a square mile two hundred dwellings 
and fourteen hundred inhabitants. The public buildings are 
the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches above-mentioned, 
a large Methodist Episcopal church, erected in 1822, and the 
Hempstead seminary, incorporated May 2d, 1836, and complet- 
ed in 1838. The situation of the seminary is well-chosen, 
and the building a handsome specimen of modern architecture, 
combining chasteness and elegance with utility and conveni- 
ence. It is sixty by forty feet, two stories high, besides base- 
ment and attic ; the whole surmounted by a balustrade and 
cupola. From the commanding position and general appear- 
ance of this noble structure, it may be considered the crowning 
ornament of the village, and creditable alike to the character 
and intelligence of the stockholders. Under the superinten- 
dence of its present efficient instructor, it cannot fail to attain 
a distinguished rank among the kindred institutions of this 
state. In the village there are four houses of entertainment, 
twelve dry goods, grocery, and provision stores, a printing- 
office, fire-engine company, two drug stores, two carriage- 
makers, two saddle and harness-makers, a sash and blind- 
maker, two butchers' stalls, three blacksmiths, a baker, a stone- 
cutter, a tanner and currier, two cabinet-makers, two gun- 
smiths, two watch-makers, and various other mechanics and 
artisans. The streets of the village were first named in 1834, 
and others have been since laid out. A press was established 
here by William Hutchinson and Clement F. Le Fevre on the 
8th of May, 1830, when was published the first number of the 
'■'■laong Island Telegraph and General Advertiser^'' which 
title was, on the 11th of November, 1831, altered to the ^^Hemp- 
stead Inquirer.''^ The establishment was transferred to James 
G. Watts in April, 1832 ; and at his death, June 23, 1834, the 
publication devolved upon his son, James G. Watts, who con- 
ducted it till May, 1838, when it was assigned to John W. 
Smith, the present editor and proprietor. In this village is also 
located the office of the " Long Island Farmer'' s Fire Insur- 
ance Company^'' incorporated April 29, 1833, with a capital of 



358 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

^50.000, and has been thus far a profitable institution. The 
Long Island rail-road is two miles north ol the village, to con- 
nect it with which a branch rail-road is now constructing. 

In the Episcopal cemetery ars the graves of the late Henry 
Eckford and three of his children ; one of whom was the 
widow of the lamented Dr. Drake, a gentleman highly esteemed 
as a man, a scholar, and a poet. Mr. Eckford was for many 
years one of our most valuable and active citizens. A native 
of Scotland, he came to New- York when a young man, and 
engaged extensively in ship-building. By his great industry 
and enterprise he acquired a fortune, and at the same time the 
respect and confidence of the community. His wife was 
Miss Marion Bedell, of Hempstead. As an able and skilful 
shipwright, he had few equals and no superior ; in the full 
tide of success and in the zenith of prosperity, he was suddenly 
subjected to heavy pecuniary embarrassment, which resulted 
in the sacrifice of a large portion of his property, and induced 
him to seek elsewhere the means of repairing his broken for- 
tunes. In 1830 we find him at Constantinople, patronized and 
employed by the Sultan of Turkey, in the construction of a 
navy, upon terms which evinced the high confidence reposed 
in him by the government. In the latter part of the year 1832 
he was attacked by an acute disease, which in a few days termi- 
nated his valuable life. His body was brought to the United 
States in one of his own vessels, and interred in this village on 
the 22d of February, 1833. 

7'Ae Village of Jerusalem is upon the eastern boundary of 
the town, and was settled in 1666 by Captain John Seaman 
and his six sons, to whom a special patent was granted 
by Governor Nicolls for a considerable tract of land there 
previously purchased by them from the Meroke tribe of 
Indians. Its location is pleasant, and the population about 
one hundred and fifty. The Friends have a meeting-house 
here, erected in 1827, a large portion of the inhabitants being 
of that denomination. 

The Village of Near Rockaioay is about five miles south- 
westerly of the village of Hempstead, and is conveniently situ- 
ated at the head of Rockaway Bay, which can be approached 



TOWN OP HEMPSTEAD. 359 

bj'' vessels of sixty or eighty tons. Here are several stores, 
a lumber-yard, ship-yard, grist-mill ; which, with a few coasting 
sloops and schooners owned here, make it a place of much 
activity and business. In the Bay, nearly opposite, is Hog- 
Island, containing about six hundred acres of upland and 
meadow, and which has given name to the principal inlet from 
the ocean. In the Bay are extensive tracts of salt-meadow, as 
is the case upon the whole south shore of the town. A Method- 
ist church was erected in the vicinity in 1790, and the first 
belonging to that denomination in the bounds of Hempstead. 

One of the most remarkable features in the geography of this 
town is Far-Rockaway, which has long been celebrated as a 
fashionable watering-place, having been annually visited by 
thousands in pursuit of pure air and the luxury of sea-bathing. 
The waves of the ocean break upon the beach, which unites at 
this place with the upland. The house most frequently resort- 
ed to in former times has been removed, and its place sup- 
pUed by an establishment more befitting the unrivalled beauty 
and sublimity of the situation. The corner-stone of the Marine 
Pavilion was laid the first day of June, 1833, with appropriate 
ceremonies. It is a large and splendid edifice, standing upon 
the margin of the Atlantic ; and has hitherto been kept in a style 
not excelled by any hotel in the Union. The main building is 
two luuidred and thirty feet front, with wings, one of which is 
seventy-five and the other forty-five feet long. The peristyles 
are of the Ionic order, the piazza being two hundred and 
thirty-five feet in length by twenty in width. The sleeping 
apartments number one hundred and sixty. The dining-room 
is eighty feet long, and the drawing-room fifty. It was erected 
by an association of gentlemen of the city of New-York, the 
cost, including the land and standing furniture, $43,000, and 
was sold to the present owners, Stephen Whitney and Charles 
A. Davis, Esquires, for $30,000, in May, 1836. The atmos- 
phere here is fresh, cool, and delightful ; invalids soon find 
themselves benefitted, and all experience fresh inspiration and 
increased vigor by repeated plunges in the ocean. One of the 
best private boarding-houses near this place is Rock-Hall, 
originally built for a family residence by the late Dr. Martin,, 



360 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Over one of the fire-places in this house is a beautiful painting 
of a child and dog; said to have been executed on the spot by 
the great American artist, John Singleton Coplty, father of 
Ld. Lyndliurst, late chancellor of England. 

Col. Benjamin Birdsall. It is unfortunately the case with many of the 
distinguished actors in the revoUuioii, and in rehition to the subject of this 
notice in particular, that few events in their history have been preserved. The 
truth is, that many men of exalted patriotism, who filled their respective parts, 
both in public and private life, wiih honor and usefulness, were naturally unob- 
trusive, pursuing the eveu tenor of their way without parade or ostentation. 
Among those who, in the crisis that tried vien's S(»ils, devoted their best years 
to the service oi' tlieir country, was Benjamin Biixisall. He was descended from 
an ancestor of the same name among the early inhabitants of Hempstead, and 
who emigrated from England in lt)57. He was the son of Thomas Biixisall, and 
born in this town September 17, 173(3. Being intended by his >faiher for the 
occupation of a farmer, he enjoyed no other advantages for education man such 
as an ordinary country school at that day aftbrdetl. Blest with a gooti natural 
understanding, and having a fondness for reading, he was enabled in a few 
years to acquire a valuable stock of general and useful information, which sub- 
sequent observation did not fail materially to improve. He married Freelove, 
dau>'hter of Major William Jones of Oyster-Bay, by whom he had several chil- 
dren. The revolutionary contest having commenced, presenting to the consider- 
ation of every patriot mailers of high interest, Mr. Birdsall did not hesitate as to 
the course he ought to pursue. Apprehensions were entertained that it was the 
intention of the enemy to invade Long Island, and it became indispensable that 
measures should be adopted to prevent or repel the attempt. Having obtained a 
captain's commission, Mr. Birdsall was enabled to procure about sixty volun- 
teers with whom lie marched to the west end of the island in the summer of 
1776, and aided the forces under General Putnam in throwing up entrench- 
ments upon the heights of Brooklyn. He was actively engaged in the battle of 
the •27th of Augii<!t, 177G, which resulted so disastrously for the Americans, and 
in which great numbers were killed and wounded. He retreated with the army 
to New-York, marched with them when they left the city, and encamped at 
Harlaem Heights. Soon atler this event, a circumstance occurred which exhi- 
bited in bold relief the intrepidity and patriotism of Capiain Birdsall. An 
American vessel, laden with tlour tor the army, had been captured by the British 
in the Sound ; and Captain Birdsall, believing she mighi be retaken, otlered, if 
the undertaking were approved by his superior othcer, to superiniend the enter- 
prise in person. The proposal met the approbation of the commanding officer, 
when the captain, with a few select men, made the experiment, and succeeded in 
sending the vessel to her original destination. But it so happened that himself 
and one of his men were taken prisoners by the enemy. It was his late to be 
imprisoned in the jail, then called the Provost, under the surveilance of that mon- 
ster in human shape, the inftimous Cunningham. He requested the use of pen, 
ink, and paper, for the purpose of acquainting his tamily of his situation. On 
being refused, he made a reply, wliich drew from the keeper some opprobrious 
epithets, accompanied by a thrust of liis swoi-d, which penetrated the shoulder of 



TOWN OF NORTH-HEM PSTKAD. 361 

his victim, and caused tlie Wood to flow freely. Bein» locked up alone in a filthy 
apartment, and denied any assistance whatever, he was obliged to dress the 
wound with his own linen ; and there to endure, in solitude and misery, every 
indignity wJiich the malice of the Provost-marshal urge<J him to inflict upon a 
df(,mnKd reheL, who, he declared, " ought lu he hMtiged." General Washirg'on, 
when made eicquainted with hia situation, look measures to have his wife and 
children conveyed from Long Island to Dover in Dutchess County, where they 
remained during the war. During his incarceration, Captain Birdsall was hon- 
ored with the commission of colonel, and after a few miserahle months of confine- 
ment and starvation, an exchange took place, by which he was again set at 
liberty. 

So great was the sympathy of the public for his sufferings, and confidence in 
his patriotism and intelligence, that in 1777 he was chosen a member of iha 
assembly by the people of his native county, in which body he continued till the 
establishment of peace in 1783. He soon after returned with his family to his 
farm, which he found heul suffered much devastation by those who had possessed 
it in his absence. In 171) 1 he disposed of it, and removed to the mills whi';h he 
owned near the village of Jerusalem, where he died, liighly beloved and 
regretted, July 30, 1798. 

Benjamin Birdsall, Esq. of the city of New- York, a gentleman equally distin- 
guished for his energy and perseverance, as for his intelligence, patriotism, and 
raoral worth, is the only survivirig son of Colonel Birdsall. 

TOWN OF NORTH-HEMPSTEAD, 

Is bounded north by the Sound, east by Oyster-Bay, south 
by Hempstead, and west by Flushincf. This town was oriji^i- 
nally included within the hmits of Hempstead, but by an act 
pas.sed the Gth of April, 1784, entitled " An act to divide the 
township of Hempstead into two towns" it was declared that 
" all that part of the said township of Hempstead north of the 
country road that leads from Jamaica nearly through the mid- 
dle of Hempstead Plains to the east part thereof, shall, be in- 
cluded in one township, and be hereafter called and known by 
the name of North-Hempstead.'' The town, therefore, having 
had no separate existence previous to the year 1784, can pos- 
sess no public records extending beyond that period ; and the 
early history of its settlement being blended with that of the 
original town, little remains to be said upon this branch of the 
subject. The improvements which have taken place in the town 
since its separation and its present appearance is all that can be 
expected, and amounts to a mere descriptive account of. things 
as they at present exist. The surface of this town is in many 

40 



362 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



respects different from that of Hempstead, having a ridge of 
hills, a portion of the spiue of Long Island, passing through 
it from east to west ; the land south of this elevated tract, 
partaking in some degree the nature of the plains, while that 
on the north is rough and often stony. Indeed, all that portion 
of the island lying between the villages of Flushing on the 
w^est and Huntington on the east, bounded north by the Sound 
and south by the hills, deserves particular notice, for the pe- 
culiarity of its general features. This tract is indented for half its 
width between the ridge and Sound by seven large bays or liar- 
bors, called by the several names of Flushing-Bay, Little-Neck- 
Bay, Manhassett-I3ay, (formerly Cow-Bay,) Hempstead-Harbor, 
Oyster- Bay, Cold-Spring, and Huntington-Harbor. These sheets 
of water occur in regular succession, being from four to six 
miles in length, and having in their general form a wedge-like 
shape, with mouths or entrances from one to three miles wide ; 
and is in almost every case defended by a sand-beach, a sort of 
natural break-v/ater, formed by the continual action of the 
tidal currents, and leaving in some instances only a passage- 
way or channel for vessels. The distance from the west side 
of Flushing-Bay to the east side of Huntington-Harbor, in a 
direct line is about twenty-eight miles; while, following the in- 
dentations of the coast produced by these bays, will make the 
distance upwards of eighty miles ; forming an extensive water- 
front, presenting a great variety of surface, abounding in fine 
scenery, in which the cultivated field, the forests, the waters of 
the bays, the broad expanse of the Sound, whitened with the sails 
of commerce, the mill, the farm-house, and the country residence, 
alternately attract the attention and delight the eye of the ad- 
mirer of the beautiful and picturesque. The soil in genera], 
especially upon the necks, is fertile and productive. Its undu' 
lating surface presents a greater varieties of soil, and is adapted, 
of course, to different kinds of cultivation. The timber is 
abundant, and of the most valuable kinds, as well for building 
as for fuel. The locust-tree flourishes in this region, particu- 
larly upon Manhassett and Great Neck. The tradition exists, 
that the first of this kind of tree ever known here was brought 
from Virginia a century and a half ago, by a jNIr. Sands, who, 



TOWN OF NORTH-HEMPSTKAD. 363 

with his two brothers, came from Block-Island, and purchased 
the land in the vicinity of what is now called Sauds's Point, in 
the year 1686. From a few trees planted here by this person, 
all the locust trees now upon this part of Long Island are sup- 
posed to have been derived. Almost every farm ir. the town 
has its forest of locust, and in some instances extends to fifty 
and a hundred acres. Agriculture is the principal pursuit of 
the people of this town, yet a considerable number are engaged 
in navigation, in mercantile, and mechanical employments. 
The average size of the farms being from seventy -five to three 
hundred acres. Fine crops of Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, 
and grass are annually grown ; the system in general pursued 
is a rotation of different crops ; and the great focilities for ob- 
taining manure from the city of New- York have induced the 
extensive use of ashes, street manure, bone, (fcc. 

The country between Flushing and Huntington consists of 
a succession of promontories formed by the bays before men- 
tioned, containing from two to forty square miles each. The 
villages at the head of the bays are connected together by the 
North- Hempstead turnpike, which ranges across the north part 
of the necks ; and from which, to the head-lands formed by these 
promontories into the Sound, the distance varies from two to 
six miles. Over this surface are to be found residences of a 
superior order, and inhabited by a class of men who are among 
the most valuable citizens, independent farmers, living upon 
their own estates, whose attention is devoted to their improve- 
ment, and to the encouragement of arts and industry with 
those around them. So long as this class of men are prosper- 
ous, with the influence that justly belongs to them, all that is 
valuable in our public institutions will be preserved, liberty be 
secure, industry rewarded, sound morals prevail, and just con- 
ceptions of our social, political, and moral duties will preserve 
the character of the people from degradation. 

This is the county town of Q,ueen's County ; the court-house 
and jail are located upon the northern side of the Great Plains, 
having been erected in 1788. One of the greatest natural cu- 
riosities in this town is the beautiful pond at Lakeville, formerly 
<:alled Success Pond. It is situated in a deep basin upon the 



364 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



highest part of the ridge of hills extending throngh Long Island, 
perfectly clear and of great depth. It is about five hundred rods 
in circumference, surrounded by a high bank, and is altogether 
a romantic and beautiful object. It was stocked with the yel- 
low perch many yeais since by the late Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, 
who, in the third vol. of the Medical Repository, says ; " In 
1790 my Uncle Uriah Mitchill, shej'ijf of Queen's County, and 
myself, icent to Ronkonkoma Pond in Suffolk County, a dis- 
tance of forty miles, in a wagon, for the jnirpose of tran- 
sporting alive some of the yellow perch from thence to Suc- 
cess Pond. We took about three dozen of those least injured 
by the hook, and pnt all but two into Success Pond in good 
condition ; and in two years thereafter, they had so multiplied 
as to be caught by the hook in every part of the Pond.'" 

Lakeville has long been a place much resorted to, and al- 
ways greatly admired by the lovers of natural scenery ; and 
now that a large and convenient hotel has been erected, and 
other improvements made by the taste and liberality of its own- 
er, cannot fail of becoming a still more interesting spot to 
those who appreciate the pleasures of a country life, and who 
delight to revel in all its luxuriance of landscape, here so 
beautifully displayed. Great-Neck, formerly called Madnan's 
Neck, comprises many hundred acres of fertile and well-culti- 
vated land. It contains several handsome private residences ; 
and among others, that of Robert W. Mott, Esquire, is a rural 
paradise, possessing every charm which can delight the eye 
and gratify the man of taste. Between this neck and Manhas- 
set, is the bay formerly called Hoxv's-Bay, and sometimes Scoufs- 
Bay. One Daniel How, and a few associates, having attempted 
a settlement here in 1640, but were driven off by Governor 
Kieft, who sent a scout (or constable) with a guard of soldiers 
for that purpose. Manhasset is the name lately substituted for 
Cow-Neck, and designates a rich and fertile tract lying between 
the last-mentioned bay and Hempstead-Harbor. It contains 
between four and five thousand acres of first-rate land, and is 
cultivated in the best manner by skilful and experienced farm- 
ers. At the head of this neck, and situated on the North-Herap- 
.stead turnpike^ is a small cluster of buildings, consisting of three 



TOWN OF NORTH-HKMPSTEAD. 365 

houses for public worship, a tavern, academy, and two or three 
private dwelUngs, The Dutch church was erected in 1817 ; 
the Episcopal, called Christ Church, in 1803 ; the Friends' meet- 
ing house, many years before ; and the academy attached to 
Christ-Church, in 1818; in which there is a public library 
of five or six hundred volumes. Plandome, the residence of 
Singleton Mitchill, Esq., was originally purchased by Mathias 
Nicolls, secretary of the colony during the administration of 
Richard Nicolls, first English governor of New-York, a patent 
for which was issued in 1670. This purchase contained 
six hundred acres. Mr. Nicolls died here in 1690, tiaving 
devised the estate to his son William, who, in 1718, conveyed 
the same to Joseph Latham for £2,250. At the most northerly 
part of Manhasset is Sands's Point, so called from the name of 
the first purchaser. It is one of the most delightful situations 
that can be imagined. A lig-ht-house was erected here in 
1809, at an expense of $8,500. It is of stone, of an octagonal 
shape, and eighty feet in height. Near this place there was 
formerly a rock of immense size, called Kidd's Rock, from a 
belief, generally entertained, that the notorious freebooter had 
made valuable deposites in the vicinity ; and parties of infatuat- 
ed adventurers used occasionally to resort here for the purpose 
of enriching themselves with portions of the pirate's treasures ; 
but which had been so artfiilly concealed, that all attempts 
proved abortive. During the revolution, bands of marauders 
were accustomed to land upon these shores, under the cover of 
night, and by attacking detached farm-houses, rifle the inhabit- 
ants of their money and other valuables, which they compel- 
led them to give up at the peril of their lives ; and availing them- 
selves of the speed of their whale-boats, would reach their 
lurking places among the small islands in the Sound or the 
main shore before an alarm could be given. Indeed, so great 
was the apprehension of these sudden attacks, that many of 
the inhabitants had the windows and doors of their houses se- 
cured by bars of iron, to prevent surprises ; and it became 
usual for numbers to pass the night in the woods or other se- 
cret places, from an apprehension of personal violence, which 
in various instances was wantonly and cruelly inflicted. In 



366 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

some cases life was taken without any provocation, or in re- 
venge for their disappointment at not finding money. In one 
instance, which is worthy of being recorded, a Mr. Jarvis, who 
resided at Manhasset, aided by an old lady living in the same 
house, succeeded in beating off one of these gangs with the loss 
of several killed and wounded on the part of the assailants. 
The night not being dark, they were seen and fired upon by 
the man from the windows, who was furnished with loaded 
muskets by the brave old lady as fast as he could discharge 
them effectually. Three miles easterly of the churches at 
Manhasset, is the village of Hettipstead-Harbor, pleasantly lo- 
cated at the head of the bay ; and possessing a water-power 
which has contributed to make it a place of considerable manu- 
facturing importance. The dwellings are about forty, and the 
population two hundred and fifty. The first paper-mill ever 
built in this state was erected here, nearly a century ago, by 
Andrew Onderdonk, ancestor of the present head of the Epis- 
copal church of the state of New- York. There are now here 
a grist-mill, paper-mill, saw-mill, a factory for cuttingglass-ware, 
a Methodist church, a hotel, and two or three stores, besides a 
number of mechanics and artizans. Harbor-Hill, in the imme- 
diate neighborhood, is one of the most elevated upon the island, 
being three hundred and nineteen feet, and as some think, more, 
above tide water. The view from this eminence is not only very 
extensive, but sublime and beautiful beyond description ; it is cer- 
tainly not surpassed by any other upon Long Island. On the east 
side of the habor, about a mile north of the village, is Montrose, 
where it is calculated to found a series of manufacturing esta- 
blishment and connected with the city of New-York by steam 
navigation for a greater part ot the year. Along the shores in 
the vicinity of this place are numerous and never-failing springs 
gushing out at the base of the hills, affording water-power for 
any quantity of machinery which may be required. The 
prospect of the harbor and surrounding country is very beau- 
tiful. The minute grouping of landscape and water, hill and 
dale, foliage and flower, with an infinite variety of light and 
shade, present to the lover of natural scenery a picture truly 
delightful. The corner-stone of an Episcopal church was 



TOWN OF NORTH-HEMPSTEAD. 367 

laid at Hempstead-Harbor in 1835 by the bishop of the dio- 
cess, but nothing farther has been done towards the erection of 
the building. The average number of paupers maintained in 
this town is from fifteen to twenty, at an annual expense of 
eio-ht hundred dollars. These imfortunate persons, who, as in 
other towns, are for the most part the victims of intemperance, 
are annually hired out to the lowest bidder, and kept in a way 
that must render the poor-house an object of disgust, except to 
the most degraded. In this respect the county of Queens is 
behind most of the counties in the state ; and it is much to be 
hoped that those who have the direction in this matter will 
in a short period adopt the same benevolent and enlightened 
policy, that so creditably distinguishes all but three counties in 
the state of New- York. 

In the south-western part of the town is Hyde-Park^ the for- 
mer residence of George Duncan Ludlow, Esq., oneof thejudges 
of the supreme court of the colony; whose estate, as well as that 
of his brother, Col. Gabriel Ludlow, were forfeited to the state, 
in consequence of their adherence to the royal cause during 
the revolution. The celebrated English radical, William 
Gobbet, resided here in 1817, when the dwelling was accident- 
ally destroyed by fire. This extraordinary and eccentric indi- 
vidual was born at Farnham, in Surrey, England, in 1762; 
and was not only a man of great abilities, but one of the most 
voluminous political writers of the age. He was believed to 
have performed such valuable services for the cause of liberty, 
that Sir VVillium Windham declared in parliament, '' a statue 
of gold ought to be erected to his memory." He was a repre- 
sentative in the house of commons at the time of his decease, 
June 25, 1833. The great power of this man lay in wielding, 
more effectually than they were ever before, those weapons of 
controversy which tell upon the common sense of mankind. 
When he had a subject that suited him, he handled it, not so 
much with the artificial skill of an accomplished writer, as with 
the perfect and inimitable natural art with which a dogjncks 
a bone. 

Among the number of eminent individuals born in this town, 
may be mentioned the names of the late Samuel L. Mitchill, 



368 HISTORY OF LONG ISLANO. 

Professor of Natural History, &c. in Columbia College ; Benja- 
min KissAM, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine ; and 
Wright Post, Professor of Surgery; also Dr. Richard S. 
KissAM, an eminent physician ; and Dr. Valentine Mott, 
who ranks among the first surgeons of the age. 

In tlie vicinity of H3ale-Paik was the residence of the late Edward Griswoi.d. 
He was born on the 11th of August, 176G, and was tlie son of Joseph Griswold, 
a wealthy distiller of New- York. His classical education was acquired under the 
instruction of the Rev. Leonard Cutting, of Hempstead. At the age of seventeen 
he commenced the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar before the age 
of twenty years. His uncommon industry and assiduous attention to business 
secured him in a short time a profitable pi-actice, and his office was filled with 
students desirous of deriving advantage from his uncommon stores of legal 
knowledge. One of these was the late John Wells, whose death took place at 
Brooklyn, on theCth of September, 1823. As a commercial lawyer, Mr. Wells 
was acknowledged to stand unrivalled at our bar. He was an orator of the first 
order. He had, (says his biographer,) a masterly manner of clothing a long 
chain of connected ideas in the choicest language; and perhaps no individual in 
this country ever reached the same elevation, and occupied so large a share in the 
])ublic eye upon the mere footing of professional eminence and worth. Mr. 
Griswold was distinguished for his good ssnse, his great analytical powers, a 
clear discrimination of legal principles, and their application to facts in any par- 
ticular case. His retirement from the active duties of his profession took place 
many years since, yet his advice and assistance continued to be anxiously sought 
after, even by the most eminent of the profession ; and such was the deference 
shown to his opinions, that his authority was generally considered quite satisfac- 
tory. More than forty years ago he visited Paris, where he married a lady of 
fortune, by whom he had an only child, now the wife of General Eerthemy, 
possessing an important^ military station in the kingdom of France. Mr. 
Griswold again visited Paris in 1810, where he found the late Col. Burr, and 
to whom he loaned the sum of two thousand franks at one time, to relieve him 
from penury and distress. It was Mr. Griswold's intention to have remain- 
ed in France, and was negotiating for a country-seat about twenty miles from 
Paris, but which was for some cause broken off, and he returned to his farm in 
North Hempstead, where he spent the remainder of his life, and where he died 
suddenly by an attack of apoplexy, Feb. 26, 1836. Col. Burr entertained the 
most profound respect for the talents and legal acquii-ements of Mr. Griswold, 
and said he was the only person he ever saw who loved the black-letter lore of 
the common law, for its own sake. Mr. Wells too, in the full zenith of his re- 
putation, spoke of the professional habits and acquii-ements of his early tutor and 
friend in terms of the highest respect. The example alone of such a man must 
have been of very great advantage to his pupil, and in one respect at least 
there was a remarkable similarity between them. This was a most powerful and 
singular habit of mental abstraction, which enabled them to sit down in the 
midst of their families or a crowd of company, separate themselves from the 
sports, the business, or the noise around them, and, insulated and deaf to every 
thing that was passing, pursue their studies, equally unconscious of any thing 
like interruption, as if in the deepest retirement of the closet. 



TOWN OP NORTH-HEMPSTEAD. 369 

Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill. This amiable man and eminent philosopher was 
born at Plandome, in North Hempstead, August 20, 1764. He was the third 
son of Robert Mitchill, an industrious farmer of this town, who was descended 
from Sir Humphrey Mitchill of Old Widson, in the county of Berks, England. 
Robert and his wife were in good standing with the society of Friends, and 
brought up their children in the habits and strict morality of that sect. He died 
in 1789, leaving six sons and two daughters. On the maternal side Dr. Mitchill 
was descended from the family of Latham. Joseph Latham was born in Bristol, 
England, in 1674, and married Jane Singleton. He came to New-York in 1700, 
and commenced ship-building, which he followed with such success as to be able 
in 1718 to purchase a farm of six hundred acres upon Cow-Neck of William 
Nicolls for £2.250. Two hundred and thirty acres of this land ai-e now owned by 
his great-grandson, Singleton Mitchill, the gift of his uncle Dr. Samuel Latham. 
Joseph Latham deceased in 1748, and the property descended to his son William, 
who died in 1763, whose daughter was the wife of the said Robert Mitchill. 
Dr. Mitchill was particularly assisted and patronized by his uncle, Dr. Latham, 
who was a skilful and intelligent medical practitioner in his native place. The 
resources of this gentleman happily enabled him to enter upon and complete that 
sy.stem of education which the limited income of his father of necessity denied. 
Of his UHcle he always spoke with becoming gratitude and ardent aftection- At 
an early age he was placed under the direction of the Rev. Leonard Cutting, the 
minister of Hempstead and a graduate of the University of Oxford. With this 
excellent instructor he continued for several years, and acquired an intimate ac- 
quaintance with classical literature, which constituted one of the favorite amuse- 
ments of his leisure hours through life. It is due to this kind preceptor to state, 
that he early predicted the future eminence of his pupil, and contributed by his 
praise and encouragement to its fulfilment. While at Hempstead he obtained a 
partial knowledge of the French language from Mr. John H. Hentz, which he 
further perfected on his subsequent visit to France. After acquiring some of the 
elementary principles of medicine with Dr. Latham, he, in 1780, became a pupil 
of Dr. Samuel Bard of New-York, with whom he continued about three years. 
Dr. Latham died in 1781 ; after which young Mitchill had little further opportu- 
nity for education. In 1784 he went to Europe, and was at the medical school of 
Edinburgh, then adorned by the talents of Cullen, Black, and Monro. He there 
had for his friends and compeers the late Thomas Addis Emmet and Sir James 
Mackintosh ; and we have the testimony of the former that no student of the Uni- 
versity exhibited greater tokens of promise. On the death of this gentleman at 
New-York in 1828, Dr. Mitchill performed the melancholy duty of pronouncing 
his eulogium. On his return from Europe in 1786, he devoted a portion of liis 
time to acquire a knowledge of the laws and constitution of his country, under 
the direction of Robert Yates of Albany, at that time chief-justice of the state of 
New-York. By the influence of this gentleman he was employed in the com- 
mission for holding a treaty with the Iroquois Indians, and was present at the 
adjustment made at Fort Stanwi.v, 1788, in which the right to a large portion of 
the western district became the property of the state. In 1790 he was chosen a 
member of the legislature from Glueen's County^ and in 1792 was appointed 
Professor pf Natural History, Chemistry, and Agriculture, in Columbia College ; 
at this school he first made known to his countrymen the new theory of che- 
mistry recently matured by the genius of Lavoisier and his associates, in opposi- 
tion to the theory of his former master. Dr. Black. In 1796 he made his abk 

47 



370 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

mineralogical report of a surTey of the state of New- York; and in 1797 com- 
menced the publication of the Medical Repository in connection with Drs. Miller 
and Smith, of which he was chief editor for more than sixteen years. In 1799 
he was united in marriage with Mis. Catharine Cock, daughter of Samuel 
Akerly of the city of New-York. He was a member of numerous scientific insti- 
tutions. Of the Lyceum of Natural History of New-York he was the founder, 
and for many years president. He enriched its annals with many contributions, 
and still further displayed his Zealand liberality by a donation of a large portion 
of his valuable cabinet. For about twenty years he acted as one of the physi- 
cians of the New-York Hospital. Notwithstanding his immense literary labors 
and publications on almost every subject of science, he found time to mingle in 
the bustle of politics. He was elected from the city of New-York a member of 
the seventh, eighth, and ninth congresses ; and afterwards a state senator of the 
United Slates. Few men ever enjoyed a more enviable popularity, or preserved 
a more voluminous correspondence in every part of the world. In private life 
he was distinguished for affability and simplicity of manners, and was always 
ready to impart to others of his immense stores of knowledge, which probably 
exceeded in value and amount those of any man living. The illustrious Cuvier 
always mentioned him in terms of great approbation ; and Audubon, the ornitholo- 
gist, has bestowed upon him the tribute of his sincere applause. He died, after a 
short but severe illness, at his residence in the city of New-York, in the sixty- 
seventh year of his age, September 7, 1831. The biography of this illustrious 
man, written by his brother-in-law, Dr. Samuel Akerly, is now ready for the 
press; and from the importance of the subject as well as the acknowledged ability 
of its author, the public may expect a performanee of no ordinary excellence. 

TOWN OF FLUSHING, 

Is bounded north by Long Island Sound, east by North 
Hempstead, south by Jamaica, and west by Newtown ; contain- 
ing an area of sixteen thousand acres, of which about one half 
are improved. In consequence of the total destruction of the 
records of this town by fire, in the year 1789, it has become 
not only difficult, but in a great measure impossible to obtain 
much authentic information in relation to its ancient history ; 
and we can only give, therefore, such particulars as with much 
pains we have been enabled to glean from other resources. 

The settlement of this town was commenced in 1644, prin- 
cipally by a company of Englishmen, who, having resided for 
a short time in Holland, were induced to attempt a plantation in 
some part of the Dutch jurisdiction, by the inducements held 
out by the government of the Netherlands, and upon the spe- 
cial understanding that they should here enjoy in the fullest de- 
gree the liberty of Englishmen. On the arrival of the immi- 
grants, they concluded to locate upon this part of the island, and 



TOWN OF FLUSHING. 371 

called the place Vlissengen or Flushing, from a town of that 
name in Holland, where they had previously resided. On the 
10th of October of the following year, (1645,) a patent was 
obtained from Governor Kieft, which was made to Thomas 
ffarington, John Lawrence, John Hicks, and divers others, as 
patentees for themselves, their successors, associates and assigns, 
to be improved, manured, and settled by a competent number of 
families. A few years after a man of the name of Thorne, with 
his family, consisting of a wife, three sons and one daughter, 
arrived from England for the purpose of settling in some part 
of this island. It so happened that the vessel in which these 
persons had crossed the ocean came through the Sound, and cast 
anchor near Throg's Point. Having some curiosity to see the 
country, and anxious once more to be on shore, they landed on 
the opposite side of the East River, where they met and con- 
versed with some of the white inhabitants, who, they were 
happy to find, had come from the same district with themselves; 
and liking the general appearance of the land, they determin- 
ed to seek no further for a place of residence. Mr. Thorne accord- 
ingly purchased the neck or Point in the eastern part of 
the town adjoining the East River, called Thome's Point, 
which continued in his family until near the close of the last 
century, when it became the property of one Witkins, and 
has since been known as Wilkins^s Point. One of the poste- 
rity of Mr. Thorne formerly owned the farm of the late John 
Titus, and was in possession of it some years after the revolu- 
tion. The only direct communication, which for many years 
after the first settlement of the town existed with the city of 
New- York, was by water, there being no mode of getting to 
the city by land, except by way of Jamaica. An individual 
keeping a small store near the water, had purchased from the 
Indians at Bay-Side a large canoe, capable of containing a 
hogshead of molasses, with three or four persons, and was in 
the habit of carrying passengers to and from the city. There 
was at that time a Block-House near where the town-pond 
was lately, in which the town records were kept, and where arms 
and ammunition were deposited, to be not only safe, but ready 
in case of alarm from the natives or others, for immediate use. 



372 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

At the time of the revocation of the edict of Nantes, a number ol 
French Protestants fled from their native country into Holland 
and other places. Many of these afterwards came to America, 
and several families to this town, where they settled, most of 
whose posterity are now extinct. Fifty years since the old 
inhabitants of Flushing could point out the places where these 
Hugonots had resided, the only memorials of them now existing 
are the lamous Lady Apple and Bell-Pear trees, which they 
brought with them and planted in diflerent places ; some of 
which are yet standing, and promise fair to remain another cen- 
tury. From that time to this the town of Flushing has enjoyed 
a high reputation for the excellence and variety of its fruit, 
which, increased by the natural fertility of its soil, has led to 
the establishment of more extensive nurseries and gardens than 
can be found in any other part of the United States. To evince 
the scarcety of silver coin at this period, it need only be stated 
that an English shilling being found in the street, excited great 
public curiosity; much inquiry was made for the owner of 
so rare an article, and it was at length ascertained that the man 
w4io kept a store near the water had been seen to have a 
coin of that description in his possession, and who satisfactorily 
proved himself the lawful owner. This place was visited like- 
wise by Quakers a few years after the commencement of the 
settlement, manyof whom became permanent residents of the 
town. These persons had, on their first arrival in the country, 
settled at Gravesend ; but afterw^ards, probably on account of 
the persecutions of Governor Stuyvesant, left there, and remov- 
ed to this and other more eastern towns, where they hoped to 
remain in the undisturbed enjoyment of their religious freedom. 
One of the most respectable of this society, a man of very con- 
siderable distinction, was John Bowne, who in 16C1 erected a 
dwelling-house, which is still standing, and near wliich are two 
large oak trees, under whose shade the celebrated GeorgeFox ad- 
dressed the assembled inhabitants in 1672. In the year 1662 
Stuyvesant was so much exasperated by the contempt with 
which his requirements on the subject of religion had been 
treated by the society of Friends, and particularly by the 
above-named John Bowne, the most influential individual among 



TOWN OF FLUSHING. 373 

them, that he directed him to be put on board of a ship and 
transported to Holland, to be punished as he deserved for his 
heretical opinions and practices. The vessel and prisoner arriv- 
ing in Holland, and the facts charged upon him by the governor 
being fully considered by the Dutch authorities, he was re- 
leased, and sent back in triumph to his friends, with the fol- 
lowing epistle to his Excellency, bearing date at Amsterdam, 
Aprille, 1663 : 

" Sir. — We perceive from your last letter, that you had exiled and transported 
hither a certain Q.uaker, named John Bowne. Although it is our anxious de- 
sire that similar and other sectarians may not be found among you, yet we dovbt 
extremely the policy of adopting rigorous measures against them. In the youth 
of your existence, you ought rather to encourage than check the population of 
the colonj% The co7J5cit'n^c.« of men ought to be /"ree and unshackled so long as 
they continue moderate, peaceable, inoffensive, and not hostile to the government. 
Such have beenjthe maxims of prudence and toleration by which the magistrates 
of this city (Amsterdam) have been governed ; and the consequences have been, 
that the oppressed and persecuted from every country Jiave found among us an 
asylum from distress. Follow in the same steps, and yon n-ill be blessed." 

The case of John Bowne is but one out of many instances 
in which the same governor presumed to interfere with the free 
exercise of religion among the people of this colony, and was only 
prevented from still more unwarrantable aggression b^ the ter- 
mination of his authority on the arrival of Colonel Nicolls in 
1664. 

Two years after the conquest of New- York, and on the ] 6th 
of February, 1666, a patent was obtained from Governor Ni- 
colls, confirming to the inhabitants all the purchases of land for- 
merly made. This patent was in the usual form, and made to 
certain persons named therein, in substance as follows : 

" To John Laic rence, alderman of the city of Ncic-York, Richard Cornell, 
Charles Bridges, William Lawrence, Robert Terry, William J^'oble, John For- 
bush, Elias Daughty, Robert Field, Edward Farrington, John Maston, ^inthony 
Field, Phillip I'dall, Thomas Stiles, Benjamin Field, William Fidgeon, John 
Adams, John Hinchman, Nicolas Parrxll, Tobias Feel's, and John Bon-ne, as pa- 
tentees for and in behalf of themselves and their associates, the freeholders and 
inhabitants of the town of Flushing, their heirs, successors, and assigns forever; 
All that certain town in the north-riding of Yorkshire upon Long Island, called 
by the name o{ Flushing, situate and lying and being on the north side of the said 
island; which said town hath a certain tract of land belonging thereunto, and 
bounded westward, beginning at the mouth of a creek upon the East River known 
by the name of Flushing Creek, and from thence including a certain neck of land 
called Tetcs-Neck, to run eastward as far as Maihew Garretson's Bay, from the 
head or middle whereof a line is to be run south-east, in length about three miles 



374 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

and about two miles in breadth, as the land hath been surveyed and laid out by vir- 
tue of an order made at the general meeting held at Hempstead in the month of 
March, 16G5 ; and that there be the same latitude in breadth on the south side as 
on the north, to run in two direct lines southward to the middle of the hills, to 
the bounds between the said towns of Flushing and Jamaica." 

A further patent of confirmation to the town was issued by- 
Governor Dongan on the 24th of March, 1685, which was de- 
clared to be made for the purpose of strengthening the afore- 
said title, the peaceable enjoyment of the premises heretofore 
granted, and for preventing all controversy that might at any 
time thereafter arise from Tackapausha, Succanemen, Runa- 
suck, or other Indian Sachems, or any other person who might 
claim the land belonging to the inhabitants of the said town of 
Flushing. The persons named as patentees therein were Elias 
Doughty^ Thomas Willet, John Boivne, Mathias Harvey, 
Thomas Hicks, Richard Cornell, John Hinchman, Jonathan 
Wright, and iSamuel Hoyt. 

In the year 1672 the celebrated George Fox, founder of 
the society of Friends, and a man greatly distinguished for his 
zeal, intelligence, courage, and perseverance, came to America ; 
who in the course of his travels visited this town, where he held 
several meetins's ; and there being at that time no house suffi- 
ciently large to accommodate the people assembled on those oc- 
casions, the inhabitants were convened under the shade of two 
large white oak trees, which are yet standing in front of the 
house of the said John Bowne, which had been built ten years 
before. As the visit of this wonderful man is an important 
event in the early history of the colony, we will, for the grati- 
fication of the reader, make a short extract from his own Jour- 
nal of so much as relates to Long Island. After remaining 
awhile in Philadelphia, and passing into Nev/ Jersey : 

" At length (says he), we came to Middletown, an English plantation in East 
Jersey, where there were some Friends ; but we could not stay to have a meeting, 
being earnestly possessed in our spirits to get to the half-yearly meeting of 
Friends at Oyster-Bay in Long Island, which was near at hand. We got to 
Gravesend, where we tarried all night. Next day got to Flushing. The day 
following we reached Oyster-Bay. Several from Flushing and Gravesend ac- 
companied us. Thence to Shelter Island and Fisher's Island ; but could not stay 
for the mosquitoes, which abound there and are very troublesome. "We return- 
ed to Oyster-Bay, where we had a very large meeting.' From Oyster-Bay we 
went about thirty miles, to Flushing, where we had a meeting oimany hundred 



TOWN OF FLUSHING. 375 

people. Meantime Christopher Holden and some other Friends went to a town 
in Long Island, called Jamaica, and had ameeting there. We passed from Flush- 
ing to Gravesend, about twenty miles, and had three precious meetings there. 
While we were at Shrewsbury, John Jay, a Friend of Barbadoes, who came 
with us from Rhode Island, fell from his horse and broke his neck, as the people 
said. Those near him took him Up for dead, carried him a good way, and laid 
him on a tree. I got to him as soon as I could, and concluded he was dead. 
Whereupon I took his head in both my hands, and setting my knees against ihe 
tree, raised his head two or thi"ee times with all my might, and brought it in. 
He soon began to rattle in his throat, and quickly after, to breathe. The people 
were amazed, but I told them to be of good faith, and carry him into the house. 
He began to speak, but did not know whiere he had been. The next day we pass- 
ed away, and he with us, about sixteen miles, to a meeting at Middletown, through 
woods and bogs, and over a river where we swam our horses. Many hundred 
miles did he travel with us after this." 

A Friends' meeting-house was first erected in this town in 
1690, at which time a majority of the inhabitants were attach- 
ed to that denomination of Christians. An Episcopal society 
was formed in 1720, under the sanction of the society for pro- 
pagating the gospel in foreign parts ; their meetings were held 
in the guard-house before mentioned, and continued to be held 
there till the erection of the first church. In the year 1746 
half an acre of land west of the town pond, was given by Ralph 
Wentworth, for the purpose of having a church erected there- 
on. The conveyance was made to the Rev. Thomas Colgan, 
the minister, and his successors in ofiice. Mr. Wentworth gave 
a considerable sum of money also, to aid in the building of the 
church. The edifice was soon after erected, and at a subse- 
quent period a charter was bestowed upon it by Governor Col- 
den, by the name of St. George's Church. In 1782 a legacy 
of two hundred pounds was made to the church by the Hon. 
Samuel Cornell of North Carolina, which was accordingly paid 
at his decease by his executor. In the year 1762 a Mr. Knee- 
land was appointed catechist of the church, with a salary of 
ten pounds a-year. This church was from its origin associa- 
ted with the churches of Jamaica and Newtown, and all were 
supplied in rotation by the same clergymen. In 1770 the con- 
gregation raised the sum of one hundred and twenty-six pounds 
for repairing the church, and in 1803 the churches of Flushing 
and Newtown united in procuring for their joint minister the 
Rev. Abraham L. Clark, who remained with them in common 
for six years, after which his services were confined exclu- 



376 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

sively to the church at Newtown. In 1809 the Rev. Barzilla 
Buckly was chosen pastor of this chnrch, and the corporation 
of Trinity Church, in New- York, presented to the congregation 
three lots of orround toward the future support of their minis- 
ter. Mr. Buckly continued here till his death, March 29, 1820. 
From which period the Rev. Mr. Muhlenburgh, Mr. Lewis, 
Mr. Forbes, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Van Kleek, officiated suc- 
cessively in the church for the aggregate term of seventeen 
years ; when, on the 10th of February, 1837, the Rev. Mr. Good- 
win was settled as minister of this church. The present church 
edifice was erected in 1812. 

In the year 1789 the dwelling-house of John Vanderbilt, 
clerk of the town, was burnt, together with a great part of his 
furniture and the whole of the town records. The fire was 
designedly communicated by a young negro girl, who is report- 
ed to have possessed a very moderate share of intellect. The 
court and jury must have judged her to be of sufficient capa- 
city to be a fit object of criminal punishment, for she was found 
guilty of arson, and soon after executed ; being the last instance 
of a capital execution in this county. On the 5th of April, 
1791, the town deputed John Vanderbilt, Lewis Cornell, and 
Francis Lewis, to obtain from Governor George Clinton a re- 
newal of the patent of the town, which had been destroyed, and 
one was accordingly issued the 24th of February, 1792. 

One of the most important objects in this town, one which 
most attracts the attention of strangers, is the extensive garden 
and nursery of the Messrs. Prince, called the Linnean Botanic 
Garden. This establishment was commenced as long ago as 
the year 1750, by William Prince (deceased), father of Uie 
present senior proprietor. It is now conducted by William 
Prince and Sons. The quantity of ground occupied by the 
gardens previous to 1793 was about eight acres. In that year 
it was increased to twenty-four. The quantity has been gra- 
dually enlarged as the business extended, until at this time more 
than sixty acres are covered with an extraordinary variety of 
trees and plants. At the beginning of the revolutionary war 
the grounds were full of the finest well-grown fruit trees, among 
which were thirty thousand grafted English cherry-trees. An 



TOWN OF FLUSHING. 377 

end was of course put to the sale of trees, except for hoop-poles j 
for which purpose many thousands of the best young trees were 
disposed of. It may here be mentioned, as a fact honorable to 
the character of General Howe, that when the British troops 
entered Flushing on the 29th of August, 1777, he of his own 
accord ordered a guard to be stationed for the protection of the 
garden and nurseries, which was continued as long as was 
required for their safety. The original introduction of some of 
the most delicious fruits into this town, by the French immi- 
grants in 1685, (among which were some of the finest apples, 
pears, peaches, plums, and cherries,) gave rise to the cultivation 
of trees for sale ; and Flushing early became famous for the ex- 
cellence of its fruit. Many of the trees planted by the persecuted 
Hugonots are still existing, vigorous and thriving. This 
splendid establishment now contains more than ten thousand 
species and varieties of trees and flowering plants; many the 
most rare and beautiful, from every part of the world. Much 
attention has been given to the vine and mulberry. In the 
green-house alone there are more than twenty thousand flower- 
ing plants. Here there may, of course, be procured a vast 
variety of fruit and ornamental trees, both indigenous and ex- 
otic ; herbaceous, flowering, and medicinal plants ; bulbous and 
tuberous flowers, &c. This immense collection, as well as the 
grounds occupied by the nurseries, are constantly open to vis- 
itors without any charge whatever. The Morus Multicaulis 
tree, now so well known in the culture of silk, was first intro- 
duced into this country by the proprietors of the Linnean Gar- 
den from France in 1826, where it had been brought, the year 
before, from the Phillippine Islands ; since when millions have 
been raised and disposed of. 

Fhisking Village, which has lately been incorporated, is 
the laro-est in the county, and contains a poulation of about two 
thousand in a square mile. It has long possessed many at- 
tractions, which, with its facilities for communication with 
New- York, have induced many wealthy citizens to locate in 
its immediate neighborhood. Many of the private residences 
are amono- the most sumptuous and elegant in the stale, parti- 
cularly that of the late Hon. Nathan Sandford. the expense of 

48 



378 HISTORY OF LOXG ISLAND. 

which is said to have been nearly one hundred thousand dor- 
lars. This gentleman was born at Bridg-ehampton, in Suffolk 
County, in 1777, and received his education at Yale College. 
Having chosen the profession of the law, he was admitted to 
the bar in 1799 ; and was soon after appointed by Mr. Jefferson 
attorney of the United States for the southern district of New- 
York, which he held for more than twenty years, having, be- 
sides, a very extensive and lucrative private practice. He suc- 
ceeded the Hon. James Kent as chancellor of this state in 1823, 
which he retained till 1S25, when he was elected by the jSew- 
York legislature a state senator in the nineteenth congress, as 
the colleague of Mr. Van Beuren. At the end of six yeai-s he 
returned to private life, and a few years since took up his resi- 
dence in this town. For more than twenty years he was afflict- 
ed with an affection of the lungs, which terminated his life on 
the 17th of October, 1S3S. 

The Flushing Institute was incorporated the 16th of April, i627, and is one of 
the most imposing public edifices in the town. While under the management of 
the Rev. JVIr. Muhlenburgh, it proved to be one of the most popular and useful 
schools in the state, bat having been given up by him, it has been transferred 
to other hands, and ceased to be used for the purpose originally intended. This 
gentleman has located his seminary at a place called College Pmnt, upon the 
north-west part of Lawrence's Neck, adjoining the Sound, one of the most beau- 
tiful, heathy, and commanding situations which could have been chosen. The 
name given to this new establishment is St. Paul's College, the ccrner-stone of 
which was laid by the Right Rev. Bishop Ondendonk, Oct. 15, 1836. The main 
building has not yet been completed, but sufficient erections have been made for the 
accommodation of more than one hundred students. From the high reputation 
sustained by the founder, there is no reason to doubt of the prosperity of his un- 
dertaking. It is in all respects an Episcopal Seminary, and the members of the 
college constitute an Episcopal congregation. The course of instruction is nearly 
the same as that in other colleges, and conducted by professors of known ability. 
The government of this institution is parental, and the students are reouired to 
reside in the college. 

A mineral spring was discovered, in the year 1816, upon 
the land of Mr. Walter Roe in the village of Flushing, which 
for a time attracted the attention of scientific men and the pub- 
lic. The water was examined by Dr. Mitchill and other 
chemists, and found to be a chalybeate ; and in its medicinal 
properties nearly resembling that of Schooley^s Mountai7i. Its 
day ol excitement, however, has passed away, and for ma- 

i 



TOWN OF FLUSHING. 379 

ny years nothing more has been heard of this famous sana- 
tive. 

The surface of this town is for the most part level, and the 
remainder moderately undulating. The soil is in general of 
the best quality, and its agriculture probably exceeds that of 
any other portion of Long Island. The farms in the vicinity 
of the village, on the road to Whitestone and at Bay-Side, 
are not excelled for their beauty, fertility, and excellence, by 
any in the country ; and very justly excite the wonder and ad- 
miration of strangers. At Whitestone, on the Sound, are 
several dwellings, some of which are extremely elegant. A 
ferry was formerly kept here to Westchester, and a distillery 
has been in operation also for nearly thirty years. At the 
head of Little Neck is a place called the Alley, where is a mill, 
several houses, and a public landing. Upon this part of the 
town, and at the head of Little Neck Bay, is a tract of salt- 
meadow containing several hundred acres, which is crossed 
by a turnpike road and bridge leading to Hempstead Harbor. 
On the western part of the town is a fine tract of land nearly 
insulated by creeks, known by the name of Ireland ; which 
was formerly the residence of Governor Golden, called by him 
JSpri7ig Hill, now the property of the Hon. Benjamin W. Strong- 
Between this tract of land and Newtown is another body of 
meadow comprising more than one thousand acres. In the 
lower part of this meadow, adjoining the causeway leading to 
New- York, is a singular hill, covered with timber, which, 
when the meadow is overflowed by the tide, is of course an 
island. It contains seven acres, and has lately been purchased 
by a wealthy citizen of New- York for the purpose of building 
thereon a summer residence. Zioji Church, at the head of 
Little Neclc, was erected by the late Wynant Yan Zandt, Esq. 
in 1830, and of which the Rev. Eli Wheeler was rector for 
several years. Another has been lately built at Clintonville, 
between the village of Flushing and Whitestone, by Samuel 
Leggett, Esq. which is understood to be a free church. 

Francis Lewis. This gentleman was born at Landaff, in South Wales, ia 
1713, and educated at Westminster. He early concluded to be a merchant, and 
converting his patrimony into money, sailed for New- York in 1735; from 
whence he went to Philadelphia, and established himself in business. Two 



3S0 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

years after he returned to New- York, and engaped extensively in njiTigation. 
His commercial transactions iiviuced him to visit Russia and oiher parts of 
Europe; and vas twice shipwrecked upon ihe coast of Irelacd. As a^nt for 
■upplyinj the Briiish troops, he was at Fort Oswego when it samencered to 
Montcalm, after Col. Merce^r had been killed by his side. He was carried a pri- 
soner to Mouireal, and thence to France. After his liberation he iviurned to New - 
York, and was nrst siuong the s<.>ns of Liberty in the revolutionary morenients 
of the country. In 17T5 i»e w.-is unaiumously elected a dele^rate jo Uie conti- 
aental congress, where his commencial knowledge and habits rendered his sei- 
Tices peculiarly important. The next year he a£xed his signature, with his fel- 
low patriots, to the declaration of iixlependeuce. He was atlerwaids employed by 
congress in the importaiiou of military stores, and on various secret servictf. 
He had, in 1776, lemoTed his family to his farm at Flashing. In the autumn 
of that year his house was plundered by a pany of Br" - " ': horse, ar.d 
his extensive library ami papers wantonly destroyed. T <ed for revenge 

upon a man who had dared to ai£x lus name to a document which proclaimed 
the independence of America. Unfortunately Mrs. Lewis fell into their pow- 
er, and was retained a prisoner several montJis by the brutal foe, without a 
change of clothes or a bed to lie upon. Through the influence of Washington, 
siie was released, but her healtlx was so injured that she soon sank into the grave. 
Mr. Lewis contintied to reside here about twenty yeai-s, when he removed again 
to Xew-Y"ork. Of his subsequent life little is known, except that his last days 
were spent in comparative poverty, his large fonune having been sacrificed up- 
on the altar of hiscoumrys fi^eedom. The life of this excellent maai was, how- 
e\-er, protracted to his ninetieth year. He died Dec 30, IS03. 

CAPWALtJkPKR CoLKEx. former lieutenant-governor of the colony of New- 
York, was for many years a resident of Flushing. He was the son of the Rev. 
Alexander Colden of EKinse, in ScoUaxKi. where he was bom Febniary 17, 16S^; 
graduated at Edinburgh in 1705, and devoted himself to medicine and the mathe- 
matics till the year lIlTS. The fame of Penn's colony allured him to America in 
1710, and he practised phj-sic in Philadelphia till 1715, when he returned to 
England. Hen? he formed an acquaintance with many eminent men, with whom 
he maintained a corres ever after. From LoikIcu he went to Sc> 

where he married Alice v - ;, daughter of a clergyman of Kelso. In 1" 
came back to Atnerica, wiih liis wife, and prvWtiscd medicine in Philadelphia for 
two years- In 171S he removed to New- York, where he relinquished his pro- 
fession, and became a public character. He soon cistinguisheii himself as .. 
philosopher and statesman. His writings in several depanments of scienof 
attest liis extraorvlinary industry and ability. His correspondence with most of 
the learned men of the age in which he lived, is an evidence of the estimation in 
whidi he was held by them. His character as a statesman will be found in his 
political writings, and in his cornfspondetice with the ministry of Great Britain 
at the critical times in wiiich he admitustered the colonial governmenu He held 
successively the offices of surveyor-general of the colony, master in chancerv, 
member of the council under Irovernor Burnet, and lieutenant-governor at several 
periods. He piuvhased a tract of land near Newburgh, which he named Col- 
denham. and to which he removed in 1T56. Here he occupied himself with 
botanical and mathematical pursuits, carrying on at the same time a correspond- 
ence with GoUinson, Linneus, Gronovius, and others, in Euixtpe ; and wiUi 



TOAVN OF FLfSHINO. 3S1 

Franklin, Gaitlon, Bartrani, Alexander, and others, in America. lie wrote 
treatises upon Gravitaiiou, on Matter, on Fluxions, and various othcrsubjects of 
science. While holding the otfice of lieutenant-governor, he residtxl most of the 
lime at his farm in Flustiing, callcil Sprinj;-Hill, wheiv he built a spacious and 
substantial mansion. His death took place here on the Ol)th of September, ITTu, 
a: the age of eighty-eight years ; and he was buritxl in a private cemetery on the 
farm attached to Spring-Hill. He had five sons and five daughters, a part of 
whom only survived him. His daughter E.icubcth mturied Peter De Lancy, 
Esq.; Jin ■»« married Dr. William Faiquhar; and Alice mairicd Col. William 
Willet, Three of Goveraor Colden's sons, Ahxtirukr, Ca<iiraUaikr, and David, 
were successively surveyor-generals, and prominent men in the colony. His son 
David, to whom he devised the farm at Spring-Hill, (now the property ot the 
Hon. Bonjamiu W. Strong.) becoming a warm and aeiive loyalist in the revo- 
lution, lost his estate by forfeitm-e, and he retired to England in 1764, where he 
died the lOih of July of the same year. He was bred to the profession of physic, 
which however he never practised. He was fond of retirement, was much 
devoted to scientific pursuits; and his correspondence with learned men in Europe 
and America is to be found in the publications of the time. His wife was 
Ann. daughter of John Willet, Esq. of Flushing. She died at Coldenham, 
Orange County, in August, 17S5. Mr. Colden had one son and eight daughters. 
His daui:iiter Mary married the late Josiah Ogden Hotnnan, Esq, ; Elizabeth 
married Eklwaixi W. Laight, Esq.; and Catharine married the late Thomas 
Cooper, Esq. 

Cadwalladkr D. Coldkn. the only son of David Colden, was born at Spring- 
Hill in Flushin"g, April 4, 17GL> ; and received the first part of his education at a 
school in the town of Jamaica. In the spring of 17S4 he accompanied his father 
to England, where he attended a classical school near London till the close of 
17S5, when he returned to r<ew-York, and entej-ed upon the study of the law in 
the office of the late Richard Harrison, one of the most eminent barristers of New- 
York, He completed it with Mr, Van Schaick of Kindcrhook, and was admitted 
to the bar in 17T>1. He practised his profession at Poughkeepsie till 179G, when 
he renioveil to New-York, where he was soon at\er made district attorney, and 
laid the foundation of his future fame. On the Sth of April, 17*J3, he married 
Maria, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Provoost, bishop of the diocese of New- 
York. In 1?^13 he visiteti Fr.ince and Switzerland for his health, and returned at 
the end of IStU. For a young man at that time to attain distinction at the bar, 
with sucJi competitors as the elder Jonts, Harrison, HumilUn, and Livingston, 
was no easy task. Mr. Colden made the eflbrt, and by dint of talent and disci- 
pline succeeded. In a few years he stood as a commercial lawyer at the head of 
his profession, and in tne other branches, among the first. In 1810 he command- 
ed a regiment of volunteers, and was very active in assisting to raise fortifi- 
cations for the defence of the city. In ISIS he was elected to the assembly, and in 
the same year was appointed mayor of New-York at a period when the mayor 
presided in the court of sessions. In 18-^3 he was chosen a representative in 
congress, and proved a useful and distinguished member of tliat body. In 1824 
he was elected to the senate of tins state, which he held for thi-ce years. The 
most untiring industry and patient research were peculiar trails in his profes- 
sional character, and marked his proceedings in every thing he undertook. He 
was among the earliest and ntost eriicieni promoters, iu connection with De Witt 



382 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

Clinton, of the system of internal improvement, now the pride and boast of our 
state. At the completion of that splendid and herculean project, the Erie Canal, 
he composed and published the well-known memoir upon the subject. He wrote 
also the life of Robert Fulton, the successful promoter of steam navigation, and 
one of the greatest benefactors of mankind. Mr. Colden died, universally esteem- 
ed and lamented, at his residence in Jersey City, on the 7th of February, 1834. 
He was, in every sense of the word, a great man, and one of whose nativity the 
people of Long Island may well be proud. 

TOWN OF JAMAICA ; 

Is situated in the south-western part of Queen's County, cen- 
trally about twelve miles from the city of New- York. It is 
bounded north by Flushing and Newtown, east by Hempstead, 
south by the Jamaica Bay, and west by King's County. This 
town is deprived of any ocean-front in consequence of Hemp- 
stead or Rockaway beach extending south-westerly between the 
bay and ocean, as far as Rockaway Inlet, ten miles beyond the 
Marine Pavilion. It is generally supposed that in former times 
a small tribe or family of Indians, subject to some other, 
dwelt upon the shore of the creek putting up from the bay 
south of the present village of Jamaica, and called the "/ame- 
co'^ tribe, from whom the name of the town is derived ; and not 
from an island in the West Indies, to which it has been assimilat- 
ed in sound by the modern way of spelling the word. Ai that re- 
mote period the Beaver Potid, so called, was large and deep, in 
which the beavers were common ; and the way leading to it from 
the Indian settlement below was called the Beaver Path. The 
first purchases of land in this town were made from the Ca- 
narsee Indians, who inhabited the southern part of Queen's 
County, particularly on the shores of Jamaica Bay. The lands 
were afterwards procured from the Rockaway tribe also, who 
claimed jurisdiction over the eastern portion of the town. In 
the grant of Governor Stuyvesant, hereafter mentioned, the for- 
mer are denominated the Canarise Indians. The first English 
settlers of the town in 1656 were as follows : 

Daniel Denton, Henry Townsend, George Mills, 

Richard Chasmore, Richard Sweet, Luke Watson, 

John Townsend, Richard Barker, Richard Townsend, 

John Laran, Richard Evert, Roger Line^, 

Abraham Smith, Samuel Mathews, Nicholas Tanner, 

Nathaniel Denton, Robert Rhodes, Robert Coe. 

Benjamin Coe, Henry Messenger, 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 383 

These individuals, or most of them, came immediately from 
Milford, and uniting with a few of the inhabitants of Hempstead, 
requested of Governor Stuyvesant permission to begin a planta- 
tion here, well knowing that to attempt a settlement without 
authority from the Dutch government would but expose 
them to the certain consequence of being driven off. This re- 
quest of the settlers has not been discovered, but may be judged 
of from what is contained in the following grant of the gover- 
nor, in answer to their application : 

" Having seen the request or desire of the inhabitants of the town of Hemp- 
stead, and subjects of the province, the governor-general and council have con- 
sented and granted unto the aforesaid inhabitants, free leave to erect or build a 
town according unto their place limited, named Canarise, about the midway from 
Hempstead, upon such privileges and particular ground-briefs, such as the inha- 
bitants of the New Netherlands generally do possess in their lands ; and likewise 
in the choice of their magistrates, as in the other villages or towns, as Middle- 
borough, Breuklin, Midwout, and Amersfort. 

" Done at the fort in New-Netherland, this 21st of March, 1656, 

" Peter Stuyvesant. 

" By order of the governor-general and council of the New-Netherlands, 

" Cornelius Van Ruyven, Secretary." 

A more formal and extensive patent was granted to the town 
in 1660, in which it was incorporated by the name of Rusdorpe, 
from a town of that name in Holland, and which it retained 
till the conquest, when the present appellation was adopted. 
The Dutch governor was characteristically jealous of the ex- 
ercise of authority by others, and endeavored, as far as pos- 
sible, to concentrate all power in himself and his council, who 
were most generally subservient to his wishes. April 12, 
1660, he ordered the magistrates of this town to refer a cer- 
tain cause then pending before them, to the council to be deter- 
mined, although the magistrates, by the charter, were vested 
with full power to hold courts, civil and criminal, with a limit- 
ed jurisdiction, and to make ordinances for the welfare and 
good government of the town. They were authorized to 
choose their own magistrates, subject to the approval or oth- 
erwise of the governor ; and it was the practice in all the En- 
glish town.s in subordination to the Dutch, to select double the 
number to which they were entitled, out of which the gover- 
nor designated those who should serve. The first town meet- 



3S4 HISTORY OF LOXQ ISLAND. 

ing of which any record remains, was held the ISth of Febru- 
ary, 1056, when it was '' voted, among other things, that Daniel 
Denton should enter all acts and orders of public concernment, 
and to have fire shiUiiisrs a- year for his trouble."^ August 10, 
1059, the town chose Robert Coe, Richard Everit, Samuel jNIa- 
thews, Luke Watson, and Nathaniel Denton, to be presented to 
the governor for the nomination of magistrates. " At a town 
meeting, March 25, 1059, it was voted that the people mow by 
squadrons ; to wit, John Townsend and his squadron at the 
East Neck ; Robert Coe and his squadron at the Long Neck ; 

^Nicholas Tanner and his squadron at the Old House ; and Na- 
thaniel Denton and his squadron at the Haw-trees." In many 
Indian deeds for land in this town, there is a singular excep- 
tion or reservation, "of the tall trees upon which the eagles 
build their nests." Tliese were probably not what we call 
eagleijbut hawks or cranes, which, it is well known, were deem- 
ed sacred birds by some Indian tribes. 

" Town meeting, February IS, 1600, it is voted that Daniel 
Denton make a rate for paying for the bull's hire the last year 
by the town, and that Luke "Watson and John Rhodes gather 
the same. The town also agreed to cast lots for the south 
meadows, theybeincr divided into four necks and the inhabitants 
into four squadrons." It was in the power of any one of the ma- 
gistrates by warrant to notify a town meeting, and all who neg- 
lected to attend after twenty-four hours' notice, forfeited tlieir 
rates for that year. In 1061, Jan. 15, it was ordered that a rare 
be made '•'■ to pay for a wolf of Abraham" s killing, and one 
that John Toirnscnd's pit catchcd.'' On the 30th of April, 
1001, it was "voted and agreed to hire a cow-keeper, to keep 
all the town's cows and calves for the year ; and also to pay 
to Mr. Coe eleven pounds in good passable wampum, out of 
money lent to the town by Mr. Tanner. " The town being in- 
formed of one that milk'd other folk's cows, and having been 
catched in the act, it was ordered that William Foster should 

' prosecute the otiender to the uttermost, either here or at the 
Manhattoes." " January 30, 1002, the town agreed and voted 
to pay Abraham Smith thirty shillings a-year /o/- beating the 
drum on Sunday" On the 0th of March, 1002, the town 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 385 

voted a trooper's coat and a kettle to the Indians, in full of the 
claim due them for land heretofore purchased of them ; and al- 
so to build a house for the minister, twenty-six feet lono;-, seven- 
teen wide, and ten feet between joint and joint. On the 29th 
of January, 1663, town voted to pay thirty shillings a-year for 
beating drum on Sundays and other public meeting days, to be 
paid in tobacco payment^ or in wheat at six and eight pence, 
or Indian corn at four shillings a bushel. " Town agreed, Feb. 
6, 1663, that whoever shall kill any wolf, the head being shown 
to the town or nailed upon a tree, shall have seven bushels of 
Indian corn ; and that Mr. Coe and Ralph Keeler agree with 
George Norton about building the meeting-house." On the 
16th of Feb. 1663, it was ordered by the town that every dwel- 
ling-house shall have a sufficient ladder to reach within two 
feet of the ridge, under penalty of two and sixpence. 
' " February 19, 1665, the town voted that Richard Everit 
I should go to Naumitanipak, the Rockaway Sachem, to get him 
I to- come to the general court at Hempstead, to maintain the 
I several purchases that have been made of liim by the town, and 
I for a recompense for his attendance the town will give him a 
I coat." This request, it seems, was made in pursuance of an 
> order issued by Governor Richard NicoUs, for the deputies 
of all the towns to meet him in convention at Hempstead, in 
March, 1665, and to bring with them such evidences as they had 
for their lands, and such of the Indian chiefs as could be pre- 
vailed upon to attend. On the 5th of February, 1665, a patent 
\ of conlirmation for the lands purchased by the town at various 
times was granted by Governor Nicolls, to Daniel Denton, 
I Robert Coe, Bryan Newton, William Hallet, Andrew Messen- 
Iger, Anthony Waters, and Nathaniel Denton, for and on behalf 
'of themselves and tlieir associates, the freeholders and inhabit- 
ants of the said town, their heirs, successors, and assigns, as 
' follows, to wit : 

I" All that certain tract of land, which already hath been, or heieafter shall be 
purchased for and on behalfe of ye said towne of Jameca, whether from ye 
native proprietors or others, within the limits and bounds licreafter exprest ; that 
is to say, ye eastern bounds beginning on the east side of ye Little-Plains, to 
'extende south-east to Rockaway Swampe ; then north-east from Hempstead 
bounds, to runne west as ye trees are mark't, on or about ye middle of ye Hilli, 

\ 49 

( 
( 



3S6 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

until it reach to fflusbing creeke (which are their north bounds, and divides them 
from the tovvne of fflusliing) according unto an order made at the Generall meeting 
at thetowne of Hempstead in the month of March, )()65; then to meet Newtown 
bounds at ye south west edge of the Hills, ye north-west corner beginning at 
certaine mark't trees at ye edge of ye said Hills, from whence to runne in a 
south linR to a certaine river, that is, to ye east of Plunder's-Neck, and bounded 
south by the sea." 

On the 5th of November, 1668, the town agreed with John 
Wag-et to feme the burying-place, ten rods square, for the sum 
of £4, in current pay ; and on the 6th of March, 1670, voted to 
give Mr. Prudden £10 as their mmister, with the house and 
lot in possession of Mr. Walker ; and that a convenient pew be 
built for him to preach in. The amount ordered by the town, 
Nov. 7, 1674, to be paid to the Indians for tlieir west purchase, 
consisted of one trooper's coat, five guns, three bhmkets, sixteen 
coats, nine {settles, ten pounds of powder, ten bars of lead, one 
coat in liquors, thirty fathoms of wampum, and a quart more 
liquor. On the 17th of May, 16S6, Governor Dongan issued 
a new patent for the town, to the following persons named 
therein as patentees on behalf of themselves and their asso- 
ciates: 

Nicholas Everit, Jonas Wood, Richard Rhodes, 

Nathaniel Denton, "William ffoster, Thomas Lamberson, 

Nehemiah Smith, John Everit, Joseph Smith, 

Daniel Denton, Edward Higbie, George Woolsey, 

Jolm Oldfields, Daniel Whitehead, John Baylis, 

William CreecJ, John Carpenter, Thomas Smith, 

Bryant Newton, John flrurn>an. Wait Smith, 

Benjamin Coe, Samuel Smith, Samuel IMills. 

The said last-mentioned patent sets forth that an agreement 
had been entered into the 2d of December, 1684, by which it 
was concluded and determined that the town of Jamaica should 
make no claim to Rocka way-Neck; and that by Rockaway river 
should be understood the river that runs out of Rockaway 
Swamp, and to be Jamaica's east bounds ; and that the mea- 
dows on the west thereof should belong to Jamaica, 

" The town being called together in arms on the 8th of 
October, 1689, John Baylis, Jr., was chosen captain, Jonas 
AVood, lieutenant, and Hope Carpenter, ensign." On the 6lh 
day of December next following, the town voted and agreed 
that there should be a meeting-house built sixty feet long, thirty 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 387 

feet wide, and every way else that should be convenient and 
comely for a meeting-house. There was no other than a Pres- 
byterian church in this town for more than half a century 
after the settlement. The first house for rehgious worship 
was built in 1662, and the town, by a public vote, agreed 
to give the Rev. Zachariah Walker as their minister, a 
salary of sixty pounds a-year, payable in wheat and Indian 
corn at current prices ; he was accordingly settled here in 1663, 
and continued till his removal to Stratford in 1668. From 
Stratford he went to Woodbury, where he died. He was the 
son of Robert Walker, who lived in Boston in 1634. He had 
also a son named Robert, afterwards a judge of the superior 
court of Connecticut, who died at Stratford in 1772, one of 
whose daughters was the wife of the Rev. Mr. Wetmore, and 
another the wife of John M. Reed, mayor of Norwich. His 
son. Gen. Joseph Walker, a brave and patriotic dfficer, died at 
Saratoga, August 11, 1810. The Rev. John Priiddeii suc- 
ceeded Mr. Walker as the minister of this town. He was 
son of the Rev. Peter Prudden, who came to New- Haven with 
the celebrated John Davenport, and settled at Milford in 1639. 
Mr. Prudden graduated at Harvard College in 1668, and was 
settled here in 1670, where he remained, respected and useful, 
till 1692, when he removed to Newark, and continued there till 
his death, December 11, 1725. The Rev. George Phillips of 
Rowley, Massachusetts, was the next clergyman. He graduated 
at Harvard College in 1686, and was settled here in 1693. He 
continued about four years, when he removed to Setauket in 
the town of Brookhaven in 1697, and died there in 1739. His 
character and qualifications were of a high order, and his de- 
scendants are both numerous and respectable. In 1698 the 
Rev. John Hubbard became the minister of Jamaica, and 
measures were taken in the year following to erect a new 
church, and persons were duly appointed to solicit donations 
for the purpose, A tract of land had been set apart for a par- 
sonage in 1676, together with a piece of meadow, which, it was 
voted, should continue at the disposal of the town. In 1700 a 
new stone church was erected, (which stood in the middle of 
the public street,) but without restricting the use of it to any 



3SS HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

particular denomination : and in a short time thereafter the 
most serious and bitter disputes arose, which kept the people in 
difficulty and agitation for more thaii twenty years. The 
matter was thus : In the year 1702. in consequence of a dan- 
gerous sickness. Governor Cornbiiry removed with the council 
to the village of Jamaica, and for the special accommodation 
of his Excellency, as well as from respect to his exalted station, 
the Rev. Mr. Hubbard cheerfully accorded to him the use of 
the parsonage-house, which was one of the best in the place, 
and himself removed into another. It should here be recol- 
lected that it was one of the conditions published by authority 
of the Duke of York in the infancy of the coloiiy administra- 
tion under him, that every town should elect their own minis- 
ters, and compensate them accordincj to such agreement as they 
should make with them. This was, of course, a great encour- 
agement to new settlers, and for fresli immigrations from 
Europe ; at which time there was probably not half a dozen 
professed Episcopalians in the County of Queens, the inhabit- 
ants being almost, without exception, Presbyterians or Indepen- 
dents. Therefore there was no reasonable cause why, in the 
establishment of churches by them, any precautions should 
have been adopted to prohibit the use of them to other denomi- 
nations, or prevent other sects from claiming any right to 
possess them. The Episcopalians had become somewhat 
numerous about the time the governor took up his residence 
here, and beinir countenanced, if not instiofated bv liim, thev 
made a bold attempt to obtain possession of the stone church, 
with a determination to divest the Presbyterians of the right to 
occupy it, and convert it entirely to their own use. It so hap- 
pened that 3!r. Hubbard, who had performed religious services 
in the forenoon, upon returning to the church in the afternoon, 
to his great surprise, found it occupied by the Episcopalians ; 
their clerg\-man, the Rev. Mr. Gordon, in the pulpit, and hold- 
ing forth to a few auditors who had taken possession of the 
seats. He thereupon, with true Christian forbearance, invited 
his people to an orchaixi near by, where he preached to them 
under the shade of a large tree. The Presbyterians subsequently 
obtained the key of the church, regained the possession, and 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 3S9 

locked it up ; but early the next Suudaj?-, some heroic indi- 
viduals of the Episcopal party, with suitable implements, broke 
open the door, and forcibly maintained possession till their 
minister arrived and had gone through the service, Havino; 
thus ag^ain become the occupants of the church, and being 
countenanced and assisted by the civil authority, with the 
governor, at their head, they kept possession of it for more than 
twenty-hve years ; when, after a tedious, expensive, and aliiict- 
ing litigation, the Presbyterians recovered the possession by due 
course of law. The Hon. Lewis Morris, afterwards governor 
of >«ew Jersey, was at this time chief justice of New- York, and 
presided at the trial, which resulted in favor of the rightful 
claimants of the cliurch. But such was the indignation of the 
Episcopal party at their defeat, that even his Honor did not 
escape their malevolent aspersions ; and (^-as compelled, out of 
respect to public opinion, to repel the charge of judicial partial- 
ity, by pubhshing a vindication of his official conduct in rela- 
tion to the opinion expressed by him at the trial. Cardwell, 
the sherilF, under the protection of Lord Cornbury, was an 
active agent in this nefarious transaction. He seized upon the 
church glebe, divided it into lots, and leased them ont for the 
benefit of the delinquent party. He sustained a despicable cha- 
racter, and being afterwards imprisoned, hano;ed himself in des- 
pair. This unpleasant contest, so unworthy the Catholic spirit 
which now characterises most denominations of Christians, 
may, in a great measure, be ascribed to the peculiar temper of 
the times, lostered. if not excited, by the odious bigotry of the 
governor, who did more to disgrace the administration of the 
colony than all his predecessors. Never was there a governor 
of New- York so universally detested, or so deserving of abhor- 
rence. His behavior was tritling, mean, and extravag-ant ; 
while his despotism, bigotry, injustice, and insatiable avarice, 
aroused the indignation of the people; and at the termination 
of his administration, he was thrown into jail by his creditors. 
After his return io England, however, he succeeded his father 
as Earl of Clarendon. 

The Rev. George Magnis was the next minister of this 
church in 1712 ; but little more is known of him than that, 



390 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

after remaining here eight years, he removed, in 1720, to "Wal- 
kill in Orange County, where lie received the grant of some 
lands from the crown. He was succeeded by the Rez. Robert 
Cross, an Irish gentleman, in 1723. He had been previously 
settled as a minister at Newcastle, New Jersey. He was- much 
respected for his amiable manners and christian conduct ; and 
after remaining here till 1730, he was invited to take charge 
of the first Presbyterian church in New-York, where he re- 
mained till his death at a very advanced age. His immediate 
successor in the church here, was the Bev. George Heathco/e, 
an Englishman, much distinguished for his respectabiUty and 
learning, and who was followed in 173S by the JRev. Walter 
Wilinot. He graduated at Yale College in 1735, and remain- 
ed the pastor of this church till his decease, Aug. 6, 1744. He 
was a native of the town of Southampton, and married Free- 
love Townsend of Oyster-Bay, of the society of Friends. He 
is supposed to be the first minister buried in this town. The 
succeeding clergyman was the Rev. David Bostwick, of Scotch 
extraction. He was born in Connecticut in 1720, and gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1741. Upon his settlement here in 
1745, a sermon was preached by the Rev. Aaron Burr, then 
president of Princeton College. He was of a mild, catholic dis- 
position, of great piety and zeal; confining himself entirely • 
to the proper business of his calling, and was respected by 
good men of all denominations. He was the author of Memoirs 
of President Davies, prefixed to his sermon on the death of 
Georsre II. in 1761. In 1756 he removed to New-York, where he 
died Nov. 12, 1763. He was suceeded here by the Bev. Elisha 
Spencer, born, (says the Rev. Dr. Miller, who married his 
grand-daughter,) at East Haddam in 1722, and graduated at 
Yale College in 1746. He was the brother of Major Gen. 
Joseph Spencer of the American Revolutionary army, who 
died at East Haddam in 17S9. Mr. Spencer settled here May 
22, 1748, as the colleague of Mr. Bostwick, but was part of 
the time employed as a chaplain of the army during the French 
war. He continued here, after the removal of Mr. Bostwick 
in 1756, until 1760, when he succeeded the Rev. Dr. Rogers, 
at St. George's, Delaware, after the removal of the latter gen- 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 391 

tieman to New- York in 1765. He removed again, in 1770, to 
Trenton, where he died in Dec. 1784. The Rev. Benoni 
Bradaer g:raduated at Princeton in 1755, and was settled . 
here in 1760. In two years after he removed to Nine Partners, 
Dutchess County ^ and was succeeded by the Rev. William 
Mills. Mr. Mills was born at Smithtown, ]\Iarch 13, 1739 ; 
graduated at Yale College in 1756 ; and settled here in 1762, 
where he remained till his death in 1774. He was one of the 
most amiable of men, and faithfully devoted to the duties of 
his station. The Rev. Nathan Woodhull, minister of New- 
town, was his nephew, and came into the possession of his 
manuscript sermons, which were numerous and well written. 
The next minister of this church was the Rev. Mathias 
Burnet, born at Bottle Hill, New Jersey, and graduated at 
Princeton Colieofe in 1769. Resettled here in 1775. and con- 
tinned greatly respected and useful till 1785; when he re- 
moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, and took charge of an Epis- 
copal church there, where he died in 1806. The Rev. James 
Glassbrook was a native of Scotland, and settled here in 1786, 
but removed in two or three years, and was succeeded by the 
Rev. George Futoute, a native of the city of New- York. He 
graduated at Princeton in 1774, and was settled at Cumberland, 
New Jersey; whence he removed to this place in Aug. 1789, 
where he continued until his death, Aug. 21, 1815. He was 
for a part of the time of his residence here an instructor in 
Union-Hall academy 5 and universally esteemed for learning and 
the excellence of his character. The Rev. Henry R. Weed^ 
who graduated at Union College in 1812, was settled here 
Jan. 4, 1816, and remained till 1822, when he removed to 
Albany, and afterwards to Wheeling in Virginia. He was suc- 
ceeded here by the Rev. Seymonr P. Funk; March 6, 1823. 
He was dismissed May 9, 1825, and died at Flatlands, King's 
County, a short time after. The present worthy minister, the 
Rev. Ellas W. Crane, is a native of Elizabethtown, New 
Jersey ; and was settled at Sprmgfield in that state, Jan. 5, 
1820, from whence he removed to this church Oct. 31, 1826, 
The Reformed Dutch Ch^irch in this town was first organ- 
ized in 1702, by Dutch settlers from the adjoining county of 



392 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



King's and the city of New-York. The first church was erect- 
ed in 1715. It was of an octagonal shape, and stood upon the 
• south side of the present Fulton Street, opposite to the present 
Dutch church. Many other churches were constructed of 
a similar form, as most agreeable to their notions of architec- 
tural elegance, and best calculated to accommodate conveni- 
ently the greatest number of persons in the least space. The 
first minister of this congregation was the Rev. He^iry Goets- 
chius, who, when a boy, came with his father from Zurich 
in Switzerland, to Philadelpliia, having received a call to the 
First Reformed German church of that city. Young Goetschius 
had previously commenced his education at the university of 
Zurich, which he completed with his father upon his arrival 
in America. After his ordination he preached for awhile in 
the Dutch churches of North and Southampton, in Pennsyl- 
vania ; from whence he removed here, and became pastor of the 
Reformed Dutch churches in Q^ueeu's County, which were as- 
sociate churches, and constituted one congregation. His resi- 
dence was in Jamaica. At this period an unhappy division exist- 
ed in the churches relative to their subordination to the church 
of Holland. Most of the Dutch clergy in this country came 
from thence, and remained strongly attached to their father- 
land ; while the churches continued under the supervision and 
control of the Classls of Amsterdam, which claimed the ex- 
clusive right of ordaining all licentiates for the ministry. 
This requirement was soon found to be vexatious, expensive, 
and dilatory. The necessity of being independent of the mother 
church was felt by a portion of the church here, while others 
thought best to preserve their connection with the church of 
Holland. The claim of independence finally prevailed ; and 
in 1771 harmony was restored to the churches in this state. 
Mr. Goetschius remained here till 1751, employing much of 
his time in preparing young men for the ministry, when he 
was called to take charge of the Dutch church at Hackensack, 
where he died. The second minister of this church was the 
Rev. Thomas Romeyn^ brother of the late Rev. Derick 
Romeyn of Schenectady, and uncle of the Rev. Dr. John 
B. Romeyn of New- York. He was settled here in 1752, and re- 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 393 

mained about twenty years, when he removed, and was succeed- 
ed by the Rev. Hermanns Boelen. He came from Holland in 
1766, and after remaining a few years, returned again to his 
native country. The Rev. Solomon Frceligh settled here in 
1775, but left the island in 1776 on its being taken possession 
of by the British troops. He afterwards settled at Hackensack 
as successor to Mr. Goetchius, and was appointed Professor of 
Divinity by the general synod of the Reformed Dutch Church. 
He was succeeded here by the Rev. Rynier Van Nest, who was 
settled in ] 785, and remained several years. The Rev. Zach- 
ariah Kuyjpers was settled in 1794, and labored at stated inter- 
vals, as his predecessors had done, in the Dutch churches of 
Newtown, Success, and Wolver-Hollow. In the year 1802, 
the churches of Jamaica and Newtown separated from those in 
North-Hempstead and Oyster-Bay, and in the same year settled, 
as their joint minister, the Rev. Jacob Schoonmaker, who still 
continues a blessing to the church, and greatly esteemed by all 
who know him. It is a curious fact, that this gentleman is the 
great-grandson, in the maternal line, of the Rev. Henry Goet- 
chius, the first minister of this church, and who preached here 
nearly a century ago. The present Dutch church is a large and 
handsome edifice, and was dedicated July 4, 1833. 

Of the Episcopal Church in this town, its history, like 
those of the other churches, is defective and unsatisfactory. The 
society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, chartered in 
England, June lb, 1701, concluded to send missionaries to this 
country, to ascertain from personal inspection in what manner 
the benevolent objects of the society could best be carried into 
effect. The first person selected for this purpose was the Rev. 
George Keith, who had once resided in Pennsylvania, and 
apostatised from the society of Friends. The Rev. Patrick 
Gorden, intended as a missionary for Long Island, accompanied 
Mr. Keith, and arrived at Boston, June 11, 1702. Mr. Gorden 
proceeded thence to this town, where he was settled the same 
year, and was styled, " Rector of Queen's Coimty." His death 
took place in a short time, and he was succeeded by the Rev. 
V/iUiam Urqahart. In the report of the British society, pub- 
lished Feb. 16, 1705, it is, among other things, remarked, 

50 



394 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

" There is a provision in Queen's County for two ministers, of 
£60 each. In Queen's and Suffoliv counties are two church of 
England congregations, many Independents and some Qua- 
kers and Libertines." The death of Mr. Gorden was much re- 
gretted, as he was a man of much learning, great moderation, 
sensible and prudent. A part of his library is still preserved in 
the vestry-room of Grace Church. In the report of the society 
m England for 1706, it is related that " Her Majesty, Queen 
Ann, was pleased to allow the churches of Hempstead, Jamaica, 
Westchester, Rj'^e, and Staten Island, each a large church Bible, 
common- prayer book, book of homilies, a cloth for the pul- 
pit, a communion table, a silver chalice and p«^en." Mr. 
L'rquhart's death occurred in about two years after his settle- 
ment here, and was followed by the Rev Thomas Poyer, from 
England, in 1810. He was shipwrecked in his passage, and 
was with great difficulty saved from a watery grave. He ar- 
rived in this town while the controversy was raging between 
the Presbyterians and Episcopalians, in reference to the pos- 
session and the use of the stone church ; he soon after drew 
up, and transmitted to the Queen of England, a statement of the 
existing difficulties ; and in consequence of which, as is sup- 
posed through the influence of Governor Hunter, her Majesty 
ordered " That in all cases lohere the church is immediately 
concerned, as in the case of Jamaica, liberty be given to the cler- 
gy to appeal froin the inferior courts to the governor and coun- 
cil only, without lim^itation of any sum ; and that as well in 
this, as in other like cases, liberty be given to the clergy to 
appeal from, the governor and council to her Majesty and the 
privy council, icithout limitation as aforesaid^ The motive 
which dictated this extraordinary measure, and the object in. 
tended to be subserved by it, are too apparent to require ex- 
planation; and the natural consequence was, to protract the dis- 
sentions above mentioned, and to render the minds of the peo- 
ple more obstinate. In 1730 the Kev. Mr. Poyer, on account 
of his advanced age and great infirmities, as he expressed it, 
requested permission from the society to return to England ; 
and his death took place the year following. His successor was 
the Rev. Thomas Colgan, from England also, who was settled 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 395 

here in 1732, and remained till his death in 1755. At the 
time of his settlement religious services were performed in a 
building appropriated for the county courts, on the site of the 
present female academy in the village of Jamaica. In 1734 
was erected the first Episcopal church in this town, which was 
incorporated by a charter from Lieut. Governor Golden in 1761, 
by the name of Grace Church. At the dedication in 1734, 
Governor Cosby and his lady,together with the council,and other 
gentlemen and ladies of distinction from the city, honored the 
occasion with their presence ; and a splendid entertainment was 
given at the house of Samuel Clowes. The wife of his Ex- 
cellency presented the congregation a large Bible^ Common 
Prayer-Book, and a surplice for the minister. The Rev. Mr, 
Colgan, speaking of this church in his letter to the society in 
England, says, " It is thought to be one of the handsomest 
in North America ;" and in regard to a religious excitement 
then existing in the county, says, " The late predominant en- 
thusiasm is very much declined, several of the teachers, as 
well as hearers, having been found guilty of the foulest im- 
moralities, and others havijig xcrought themselves into down- 
right madness.^^ Mr. Colgan died in 1755, and the governor. 
Sir Charles Hardy, introduced the Rev. Samuel Seabury in 
1756. He was born in 1728, and graduated at Yale College 
in 1748. Going to Scotland, to study medichie, in 1750, he 
changed his design, gave his attention to theology, and took or- 
ders in 1753. On his return to America he settled at New 
Brunswick, from whence he removed to this parish. John 
Troup, Esq., a wealthy citizen, contributed liberally to the 
church, and presented it a silver collection plate, a large Prayer- 
Book, and table for the comm^union. Mr. Seabury, m his let- 
ter to the society in England, complains much of the influence 
of Infidelity and Quakerism upon his people ; which, he says, 
" have spread their corrupt principles to a surprising degree.'''' 
He mentions the celebrated Whitfield, who, about this time 
visited the island, and says that " He, loith other strolling 
preachers, represent the Church of England as popish, and 
teaching people to expect salvation by good works.^' In 1 766 
Mr. Seabury removed to Westchester, where he remained till 



396 HISTORY OF LOXG ISLAND. 

the commencement of the rerolmion. At the return of peace 
he settled in >*ew London ; and in 17S4 was consecrated, (in 
Scotland.) the first bishop in the United States, and presided for 
the remainder of his life over the diocess of Connecticut and 
Rhode Island. He died Feb. 25, 1796. The Rer. Joshua 
Bloomer had been an officer in the provincial service, and a 
merchant in New- York. He was educated at King's Collesre, 
where he graduated in 1761 ; went to Enirland for ordination 
in 1765, settled in this town in 1769, where he died .liuie 
23, 1790 ; and was succeeded by the Rer. William Hawun^ 
This gentleman having unfortunately become bhnd, and there- 
fore unable to discharsfe his pastoral duties acceptably, resigned 
in Aug. 1795. These several ministers officiated occasionally 
in the churches of Newtown and Flushing, which were associ- 
ated with Grace Church ; but in consequence of some dissatis- 
faction. Newtown withdrew from the union in 17^6 ; and on 
May 10. 1797, the JRcv. Eiijcli D. Raitoone was settled here 
in connecuou with the church of Flushins:. This sjentleman 
graduated at Princeton in 17S7, and in 1S02 he removed from 
this place to Baltimore ; he \»"xis succeeded by die Rev. Calrin 
WhiU. who graduated at Yale College in 17S6. and setded 
here in 1S03; but removed the year following, and was succeed- 
ed by the Rer. George Strebeel- in May, 1S05. He remained 
only a short time, as was the case with tlie Rer. Antlreir Fotr- 
ler, Rer. John Ireland. Rer. Edmund D. Barry, and the Rer. 
Timothy Cloires : who were successively ministers ot this 
church from 1S05 to ISIO. The Rev. Gilben Sayer graduated 
at Columbia College in ISOS, was settled here in IS 10, and 
continued to dischaj^e his pastoral duties with fidelity- and zeal, 
till loss of health compelled him to desist ; and was succeeded 
by the present worthy clergyman, the Rev. William L. John- 
son, in 1S30. 

The present church was erected about the year 1S14, and is 
a very handsome edifice ; the interior is neat and convenient, 
with an or^tin of tlie finest tone. The old Presbyterian stone 
church was taken dowm in IS 14. and the materials made use 
of in inlaying the foundation of the present chnrchj which was 
completed in the year following. 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 397 

Union Hall Academy was founded in 1792, built by sub- 
scription in sums of from one to thirty pounds. Among the con- 
tributors are the venerable names of George Clinton and John 
Jay ; and it was incorporated the same year, upon the applica- 
tion of James Foster and forty-nine other gentlemen. The 
names of the lirst trustees are as follows : — 

John Depeystor, Abraham Skinner, Joseph Robinson, 

Daniel Minema, Abraham Ditniars, jr. Williaiue Hammell, 

Abraham Diunars, John Smith, Daniel Kissam, 

Greorge Fatoute, Eliphalct Wicks, Jacob Ogtlen, 

John Williamson, Isaac Lefterts, Jost. Van Brunt. 

The building then erected has, since 1820, been appropriated 
for the female department ; and a larger edifice was in that year 
completed in another part of the village for the male school. 
This latter structure is eighty feet long, forty wide, and two 
stories in height ; having three rooms upon each floor. Both 
sehools constitute one institution, and are governed by the same 
board of trustees. The real and personal estate are estimated 
at ten thousand dollars, including a library of five hundred 
volumes, and a small philosophical apparatus. The principals 
of this useful institution have been as follows : 

Malby Gelston, Henry Crosswell, Michael Trade, 

Samuel Crosset, George Fatoute, Wm. Ermeupeutch, 

John W. Cox, Albert Oblcnas, John Mulligan, 

Wm. Martin Johnson, Lewis R A. Eigenbrodt, Henry Onderdonk, jr. 
Henry Liverpool, 

At the opening of this academy in 1792, an excellent oration 
was delivered by Abraham Skinner, Esq. one of the trustees, a 
resident of the village, and a lawyer distinguished for his talents 
and elocution. This o;ontleman was a zealous and active Whis; 
in the revolution, and honored with the confidence of the com- 
mander-in-chief, by whom he was appointed deputy commis- 
sary-general of prisoners. In Sparks's life and writings of 
Washington is the copy of a letter addressed to Mr. Skinner, ac- 
quainting him of an arrangement made with Sir Henry Clinton, 
for the British commissary to meet Mr. Skinner at Elizabeth- 
town on the 19th of September, 1780, to agree upon an exchange 
of officers, prisoners of war, upon a footing of equal rank ; and 
to include the whole of the oflicers on parole at New- York or 



39S HISTORY OF LONCS ISLAND. 

in Europe. " An exchange," sap the General, "of all the offi- 
cers, prisoners of war in our hands, is earnestly wished ; hut if 
you cannot make it so as to comprehend the whole, malce it 
as extensive as you can." IMt. Skinner met the British com- 
missary at the time and place appointed, but tailed to accomplish 
a plan of mutual exchange within the range of his instructions. 
In 177S Mr. Skinner was appointed clerk of Queen's County, 
and held the otiice till 1796. In 17S5 he was chosen a mem- 
ber of the state legislature. A few years after he removed to 
the city of New- York, where he enjoj^ed a lucrative practice 
for many years ; Irom whence he removed to Babylon in 
Sutfolk County, whore ho died in 1S25, and was interred in 
this village. 

A press was established in this place in 1S19 by Henry C. 
Sleight, and a weekly newspaper issued, called the " Long Is- 
land Farmer.'^ This publication has since been conducted 
by several others in succession, and for some time past by Isaac 
F. Jones, its present editor and proprietor. A second newspaper 
was commonced in Ma)-, 1S35, called the " Long Island Demo- 
crat," and is still continued by James J. Brenton. 

The Village of Jamaica is the only one in the town de- 
serving the appellation, and is in all respects a beautiful place. 
It is located near the centre of the town, and upon the great 
thoroughtare from Brooklyn to the east end of Long Island, en- 
joying every desirable facility of intercourse with the surround- 
ing country. Here are concentrated the different roads leading 
to Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, Rockaway, Flushing, Jericho, and 
Hempstead. This village was made the seat of justice for the 
north-riding of Yorkshire at its organization in UUio ; and so 
continued after the division of Long Island into counties in 
16S3, until the erection of the court-house on Hempstead 
Plains in 17SS. The olfices of surrogate and county clerk 
ai"e still required to be kept here, and for which a suitable build- 
ing has been erected. The village was incorporated April 15, 
lS14,andhas been gradually increasing in buildings and popu- 
lation, till it now contains about two hundred dwelling-s and 
titleen hundred inhabitants. It has, besides the academies, live 
places for public worship, six hotels and boaixhng-houses, two 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 399 

drug-Stores, eight dry-goods and grocery-stores, two book and 
stationary stores, circulating library, bindery, three carriage- 
makers, blind and sash manufactory, cabinet-maker, locksmith, 
pianoforte manufacturer, and many other mechanics and arti- 
sans. There are several splendid private residences in the 
village and its immediate vicinity, erected by gentlemen of the 
city, who find it both convenient and agreeable. Beaver-Pond, 
once so famous in the sporting world, and around which was 
formerly a racecourse, where thousands of dollars have been 
lost and won, has within a few years been completely drained, 
from an opinion generally entertained that its contents were 
unfavorable to the health of the village. Here is the depot of 
the Brooklyn and.ramaica Rail-road Company, with their large 
and commodious car-house, engine-house, and machine-shops. 
This company was incorpoiated, April 25, 1832, to continue 
lor fifty years, with a capital of $300,000. In 1836 it was 
leased for a term of years to the Long Island Rail-road Compa- 
ny at an annual rent, and has since been under the direction of 
that incorporation. The latter company commenced running 
cars upon their road as far as Hicksville on the 1st of March, 
1837, from which time it has been in constant operation. 

Union Course, where thousands congregate at stated periods 
to witness the sports of the turf, is located upon the western 
limits of the town, and near the line of King's Countjr ; it was 
established immediately after the passage of the act in 1821, 
allowing of trials of speed for a term of years, during the 
months of May and October, in the County of Q.ueens. In 
1834 the time was enlarged for fifteen years more, and trials of 
speed may now be made between the 1st of April and the 15th 
of June, and from the 1st of September to the 15th of Novem- 
ber, in every year during the said term. This beautiful course 
is a few feet over a mile in length, on a perfectly level surface, 
with a good track ; and is universally considered one of the best 
in the United States. Better time has been made upon it, and 
more frequently, than on any other course in the country. 
Connected with it is a Jockey Club of above two hundred and 
fifty members, who contribute annually twenty dollars each 
toward the Jockey Club purses. There was run over this 



400 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

course, the 27 th of May, 1523, one of the most remarkable and 
best-contested races that ever took place in America ; beiug a 
match race of four mile heats, for twenty thousand dollars 
aside, between the North and the South, u[K>n their respective 
champions, EcUpse and Henry : and which was won in three 
heats bv Eclipse. The time was as follows: first heat, 7 37 — 
second heat, 7 49 — and the third heat, S 24 ; whole time, 
twentv-three minutes and fift^^ seconds. Eclipse was bred by 
General Nailianiel Coles of Dos-Oris, and was nine years old 
when the race was run. Henry was bred by Samuel Long, 
Esq. near Halifiix, North Carolina, and was nearly four years 
old. Here, doubtless, have often been assembled more than 
twenr)- thousand spectators, and more than a hundred tliousand 
dollars have been lost and won on a single race. 

It may not be generally known that the first settlement of 
Elizabethtown,New Jersey, was commenced by a few individuals 
from this place. In tlie records of that town, it appears, thai 
on the 2Gth of September, 1664, John Bailey, Daniel Denton, 
Thomas Benedick, Nathaniel Denton, John Foster, and Luke 
Watson, of Jtmiaica, made a written application to Col. Richard 
Nicolls for '• liberty to settle a plantation upon the river called 
Arthur-Cull- Bay in New Jersey." The answer of the gover- 
nor is in the following words : •• Upon the perusal of this 
petition, I do consent unto the proposals, and shall g^ice the 
undertakers all due encouragement in so good a trork. Given 
under my hand in Fort James, this ZOth day of September. 
1664 Bichard yicolls.-' The place was named Elizabethtown 
in honor of the lady of Phillip Carteret, to whom the pro- 
vince of New Jersey was subsequently assigned. 

Extracted from the Xeir-York Gazette of July 17, 17S0. 
'•Three dap ago Captain William Dickson, conmiander of one 
of the New- York volunteer companies, was unfortunately 
drowned wliile bathing in a pond in the neighborhood of 
Jamaica, Long Island, whither the corpse were brought and 
interred on Monday evening, attended by Major Small and the 
oflicers of the reiriment of Koval Highland Emisrrants stationed 
there." — " Last Sundav evening was married, al Jamaica, Long 
Island, Captain Merediili, of the 70ih regiment, to the amiable 



TOWN OP JAMAICA. 401 

and accomplished \Miss Gertrude Skiuuerj third daughter of 
Briofadier-geueral Skinner." 

Same paper of August 7, 17S0. " About live o'clock last 
Friday morning-, an account was brought to Rockaway that 
two rebel boats were at Hog-Island, and had taken a schooner 
in Jara;iic:\-B:\y ; in consequence of which Captain Charles 
Hicks, of the militia of that place, mustered his company, and 
with a few volunteers in two boats went in quest of them. At 
four the next morning he sent a flag of truce, to inform the 
rebels that if they would surrender prisoners, they should have 
good quarters, which they refused, and a smart action ensued ; 
but seeing they could not escape, agreed to the terms otfered by 
Captain Hicks. The prisoners amount to twenty-eight, and 
am.mg them a clergyman. Several crrape-shot went through 
Captain Hicks's jacket : bnt nobody killed."' 

Same, September 11, 17S0. '• On Wednesday last departed 
this lite, in the 75th year of his age, Captain Benjamin White- 
head of Jamaica, Long Island. His attachment to government 
involved him in many diliiculiies, which he bore with the 
o^reatest fortitude.'' 

la ihe Presbyterian burial-ground is the following inscrip- 
tion : " Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Abraham Keteltas, 
obiit 30 September, 179S, aged 65. He possessed unusual 
talents, which were improved by profound erudition, and a 
heart firmly attached to the interests of his countr^^ It may 
not, perhaps, be unworthy of record, that he had frequently 
officiated in three different languages, having preached in the 
Dutch and French languages in his native city of New-York." 

Mr. Keteltas was the son of Abraham Keteltas, who came 
to America from Holland about the year 1720. He was born 
in New- York, December 26, 17"32, and graduated at Yale 
College in 1752 ; he settled soon after in the borough of Eliza- 
beth, where he continued till his removal to the villasre of 
Jamaica. Here he spent the remainder of his days, (except 
the period of exile occasioned by the revolution,) which he 
devoted to the service of several churches on Long Island and 
in New-England. In 1777 he was chosen a member of the 
convention that framed the constitution of this state, and was 

51 



402 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

a warm and active supporter of American independence. He 
married a daughter of the Hon. "WiUiam Smith of New- York 
in 1755. She was a sister of William Smith, who, as well as 
his fatiier, was a judge of the supreme court of this state, anxl 
author of a history of New- York from the period of its disco- 
very to the year 1732. Mr. Keteltas had eleven children, only 
two of whom are now living. He possessed an uncommonly 
large and excellent private library, and was generally consi- 
dered a man of good abilities and superior literary attainments. 
He published many Discourses^ aud wrote an Eulogy upon 
Mr. Wliitfield, the manuscript of which is preserved in the 
archives of the New- York Historical Society. 37/-. James H. 
Hacket, the popular American comedian, is a grandson of Mr. 
Keteltas. He was born at Jamaica, March 1 5, ISOO, and re- 
ceived his early education at Union Hall Academy, under Mr. 
Eigenbrodt. At the age of fittoen he entered Columbia Col- 
lege, which he left at the end of a year from bad health. After 
his recovery, he entered the otiice of General Robert Bogardus 
as a law student ; but not relishing the subject, he abandoned 
it at the end of a year, and turned his attention to mercantile 
business. In this he experienced some reverses, which forced 
him upon the stage as a last resort. Here he met with decided 
success, and has long maintained an elevated rank as an able 
and amusing actor, both in his own country and in Europe, 
where he now resides. He has not only acquired a fortune by 
his profession, but has hitherto sustained a moral charactev 
above reproach. None of the vices or frailties which liave 
been thought nearly inseparable from the character of players 
have ever attached to him ; few individuals are more amiable 
or respectable in private life, and still fewer who have contribu- 
ted more to the common stock of harmless pleasure, or confer- 
red more honor upon the morality of tlie stage. 

"NViLUAM Martin- Johnson. In the year n?0, (says John Howard Payne.) 
there was found ai the head of a little school in Bridgehanipton, Long Islandj 
a youn^ gentleman of extraordinary genius, calling himself by the above name, 
appearing to be about nineteen years of age, a stranger in these parts ; of un- 
known parentage, and all that he thought proper to communicate of himself was, 
that he came from Boston. He was a proticient upon several instrumejits, 
particularly the violin, which he played with wonderful accuracy and taste ; 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 403 

and had. moreover, a genius for sketching and drawing. He was also a poet of 
uo mean pretensions. Having a preterence for the medical profession, he re- 
moved to Easihampton, and placed himself under the instruction of Dr. Sage, an 
intelligent man and excellent physician. His pecuniary resources being soon 
exhausted, his worthy preceptor assisted him in procuring employment in a 
school at Smithtown ; and when his funds were, as he thought, sulficiently re- 
cruited, he again returnetl to the Doctor. When his small stock of means was 
again expended, he made arrangements with a cabinet-maker in tlie place, to la- 
bor for him two days in the week, as a compensation for his boai-d for the re- 
mainder of the time. Here he exhibited a fickleness of disposition, pursuing his 
studies in a very desultory manner ; spending a good part of his lime visiting 
about the neighborhooii . playing upon his violin, and sometimes upon the hearts 
of the ladies. Dr. Sage, who felt a deep interest in the stranger, says he was 
well versed in the most common theories of physic ; was a most ready mathe- 
matician and natural philosopher, and master of the principles of music. He 
possessed a critical knowledge of his own language, understood the French, had 
some knowledge of Italian, and translated with ease any Latin author. He also 
appeared to have much taste and skill in architeciure, could use almost all kinds 
of tools, and even excelled in many of the mechanic arts. It was surprising to 
think, that at the age of twenty years, and with such unstable habits, lie should 
possess such variety and degree of knowledge. How and where he could have 
acquired it all, unless by intuition, could never be imagined. He was a run- 
away boy, and had been traversing the country, without t'riends, poor, depend arit, 
and icrdched. In the year 1795 we find him e«gaged as a teacher in Union- 
Hall Academy, and highly esteemed for his ability and good conduct. In Feb. 
179G, he sailed with Captain Gabriel Havens to the south, and arrived in Savan- 
nah, where he spent a year, and returned to New-York m August, 1797. He 
came shortly at^er to the village of Jamaica, where he tell sick, and expired the 
21st of September, 1797, and was biu'ied at the expense of his friends, in the 
Episcopal cemetery. 

t Tuo.MAS Tkcxtitn. Of that ardent spirit of entei^irize, which, for the most 
important purposes, Nature has implanted in the heart of man, where shall we 
find stronger instances than in the biography of seamen 1 Inured to toil and 
familiar with danger, it is in difficulty and peril that they are seen to advantage ; 
and though their country, unmindful of their services, may have treated them 
with coldness and neglect, yet, generous to excess and brave to temerity, should 
the tempest of war lower upoii her coast, in them, regardless of the bickerings of 
party, should we again behold the most zealous of her defenders. Thomas 
Truxtun, whose achievements shed lustre on the infant navy of this country, 
was the son of an eminent English lawyer of the (then) colony of New-York, 
and born at Jamaica (L. I.) on the I7th of February, 1755 ; and, inconsequence 
of the death of his father (while yet a child), he was placed under the guardian- 
ship of his father's intimate friend, John Troup, Esq., of Jamaica, who bestow- 
ed every kind attention on him which his bereaved situation required. At the 
age of twelve years he made choice of the profession of a sailor, and entered on 
board a ship bound to Bristol ; and the next year, at his own request, was bound 
apprentice to Captain Chambers, a well-known commander in the London trade. 
In the dispute relative to the Falkland Islands, he was impressed on board a 
British sixty-four. In 1775 he commanded a vessel, and brought a considerable 



404 HISTORY OF LOXa ISLAND. 

quantity of powder into the colony, but his vessel was afterwards taken and con- 
demned. Having arrived, soon at"ter, at Philadelpliia, he sailed early in 11~6 
as lieutenant in the private armed ship Congress, and captured several valuable 
Jamaica ships oft' the Havanua, and taking command of one of them, brought 
her safe into New Bedfoi-d. In 1777, in conjunction with Isaac Sears, he fitted 
out a vessel called the Independence, of which he took command ; and off the 
Azores, besides making several other prizes, he fell in with a part of the "Wind- 
ward-Island convoy, of which he captured three large and valuable ships, one of 
which was superior to his own in guns and men. On his return he fitted out the 
ship Mars, mounting upwai-ds of twenty guns, and sailed on a cruise in the 
English channel, and took many prizes. Sailing in the St. James, of twenty 
guns, he disabled a British ship of thirty-two guns. He returned from France 
with a most valuable cargo. On his return he settled in Philadelphia, was part 
owner of several armed vessels built there, and brought from Freince and the 
West India Islands large cargoes of such articles as were of the first necessity 
for the army. After the peace in 1783, he turned his attention to commerce, and 
was concerned in an extensive trade to Europe, China, and the East Indies, until 
the commencement of our naval establishment in 17^; when he was one of the 
first six captains selected by President Wasliington. He superintended the 
building of the Constellation of thirty-six guns, and in her he was the same year 
appointed, with a squadron under his command, to protect the American com- 
merce in the West Indies ; and such %vas his vigilance and success, that an ene- 
my's privateer could scarcely look out of port without being captured. On the 
Qth of Feb. 1799, he engaged with the Constellation, and captured the French fri- 
gate L'Insurgeiite, of tbrty guns and four hundred and seventeen men, twenty- 
nine of wiiom were killed and tony-four wounded, while on board his own sliip 
he had but one killed and two wounded. He received congratulatory addresses 
from all quarters, and the merchants at Lloyds coffee-house sent him a service 
of plate valued at six hundred guineas, with the action between the frigates en- 
graved upon it ; and which offering was presented through Mr. King, our min- 
ister at London. Capt. Bari-eau of the LIusurgentc says, in a letter to Commo- 
dore Truxtun, " I ain sorry our two nations are at war ; but since 1 have untbr- 
lunately been vanquished, I felicitate myself and crew upon being prisoners to 
you ; you have united idl the qualities which characterize a man of honor, cour- 
age, and humanity. Receive from me the most sincere thanks; and be assured I 
shall make it a duty to publish to all my fellow-citizens the generous conduct 
which you have observed toward us.'" Heaving that the LVengeance, a large 
French national ship, with fifty-four iruns and upwards of five hundred men, in- 
cludiag officers, was lying at Guadaloupe, he proceeded, in January, ISOO, off 
that port. The ships came to action on the 1st of February, which lasted near- 
ly five hours, when the French ship was completely silenced. But the main- 
mast of the Constellation going by the board, and a gale coming on, the French 
ship escaped in the night, and got in Curagoa, having one hundred and sixty 
men killed and woundid, and nearly all her masts and rigging shot away. The 
Constellation lost fourteen men killed, and had twenty-five wounded. For the 
signal gallantry displayed in this action, the congress of the United States voted 
that a gold medal be presented to Commodore Truxtun. This was his last cruise. 
Having, during the administration of Mr. Jefferson, been appointed to the com- 
mand of the expedition against Tripoli, and being denied a captain to command 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 405 

his flag-ship, he declined the service ; which the president construing into a re- 
signation of liis rank, he was tlieielbre dismissed. He retired to the country until 
the citizens of Philadelphia, in 1S16, elected him high sheritT. He remained in that 
oifice till 1SU>, and died May 5th, 18C0, in his sixty-seventh year. He left two 
daughters, both of whom are married : and one son by the name of William, who 
died at Key- West in April, 1830. Commodore Truxtun was a man of \\ horn 
Long Island may well be proud ; and his excellent example and extraordinary 
success may serve to stimulate these who are left like him to struggle, unfriend- 
ed and alone, against the dilKcukies of poverty and the allurements of folly. 

RcFus King. This ejninent individual, statesman, and patriot, was the son 
of Richard King, a merchant of Scarborough in Maine ; and was born in 1755. 
He began his education at Bydeld Academy in the town of 2sewbury, under the 
care of the celebrated Samuel Moody. In 1T73 he entered Harvard College, 
soon at'ter which he lost his father; and in 1775, in consequence of the war, the 
studies of tiie college were suspended, and the students dispersed. They, however, 
assembled again in the tall at Concoi-d, and continued there till the British army 
evacuated Boston in 1776, when they returr^ed to the college at Cambridge. He 
graduated in 1777 with a high reputation for scholarship, and immediately 
entered upon his juridical studies in the office of the late Theophilus Parsons at 
Newbury{>ort, where he was admitted to the bar in 1780. He had previously, in 
1778, joined General Sullivan, to whom he was appointed in his enterprise with 
Count DEstaing against the British in Rhode Island. In the first cause in 
which he was engaged at the bar, he had for his competitor his legal preceptor, 
Parsons. Soon after he was chosen to represent the town of Newburyport in 
the state legislature, or the general court as it is called, in which he manifested 
much ability. In 1784 he was elected a delegate to the old amsress, which 
assembled at Trenton, and subsequently adjourned to I^ew-York. In that body 
he became an active and leading member in all the great measures which led 
eventually to the establishment of the present national government. In 1787 he 
was appointed by the legislature of Massachusetts a delegate to the general con- 
vention held at Philadelphia,which formed the tederal constitution. Mr. Kingnow 
renounced the practice of his profession. In 1786 he married Mary, only child of 
John Alsop, an opulent merchant of New-York, and a delegate to ilie first continent- 
al congress. In 1788 the subject of this notice removed from Massachusetts to ilie 
city of New-York, and in 1789 was chosen by the citizens a representative to the 
state assembly; the same year, he and General Schuyler were elected the first 
senators from this state under the constitution of the United States. In 1794 Mr. 
King, in conjunction with General Hamilton, published a series of papers over 
ihe signature of Camillus, on the subject of the British treaty, which helped to 
reconcile the people to its various provisions. After the expiration of his first 
term, he was re-elected to the senate ; and in 1796 was appointed by General 
Washington minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain; he remained at the 
court of England during the residue of the administration of Washington, the 
whole of that of John Adams, and for two years of that of Mr. Jetferson, when 
he returned home. In the month of May, 1806, he removed permanently with 
his family to Jamaica, where they continued ever after to reside. In 1813 he was 
again chosen by the legislature of this state a senator in congress ; and although 
he was personally opposed to the declaration of war in 1810, as in his opinion 
both unwise and impolitic, yet no man exhibited a higher degree of patriotism 



40G HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

in supporting it, pledging his credit and fortune to the government in its 
prosecution, rather than yield any of the national rights to the enemy, or submit 
to an inglorious peace. In 1S16 he was the candidate of the anti-administration 
party for governor of this state, which was done without his knowledge, and 
failed without his regret. In the summer of 1819 he lost his wife, she having 
been for several years in feeble health ; a loss which he but too deeply felt, for 
she added to strong atfection and humble piety, a gentle temper and a cultivated 
mind. In 1820 he was reelected again to the senate, in which he continued till 
the expiration of his term in 1825. During this period, in 1821, he was chosen a 
delegate from this county to the state convention for amending the constitution ; 
and was one of the most useful and intelligent, as well as active members of that 
dignified and enlightened body. Upon his retirement from the senate in 1825, 
with the intention of closing his political career, he was solicited by President 
John Q.uincy Adams again to represent the United States at the court of St. 
James. But on his passage he was attacked by disease, which prevented him, 
on his arrival in England, entering upon an active discharge of the duties of his 
office. After remaining abroad a year, in the hope of being enabled, by returning 
health, to assume the high functions with whicli he was charged, he returned to 
the United States ; and here, in the bosom of his family, and with exemplary 
calmness and resignation, awaited his approaching end. This event took place 
the 2i)ih of April, 1827, at the age of seventy-two. In person, Mr. King was 
above the common size, and somewhat athletic ; with a countenance manly, 
dignified, and bespeaking high intelligence. His manners were courteous, his 
disposition afl'able, and his conversation and writings remarkable for concise- 
ness and force. 

Mr. King left five sons. 1. John Alsop, born in 1788, and having read law 
retired to the country ; and since the death of his fitther has occupied the paternal 
estate. 2. Charles, born in 1789, and has been for many years past, editor 
and proprietor of the newspaper entitled the New-York American. 3. James 
Gore, born in 1791, and has long been a partner in an extensive banking 
house in the city of New-Vork. 4. Edicard, born in 1795, and settled as a 
lawyer in Ohio, where he died in 1837. 5. F^rederick Gore, born in 1802, 
and educated as a physician and surgeon, in which he gave early promise of 
eminence, but was cut oft' at a premature age, April 23, 1829. 

John A. King, Esq. accompanied his father to England in 1825, as secretaiy 
of legation, and has several times represented the County of Queens in the state 
legislature witli distinguished ability. 

Lewis E. A. Eigenbrodt, so long and advantageously known as an able and 
efficient instructor of youth, was descended from one of the most respectable 
families of Hesse-Darmstadt upon the Upper Rhine, Germany ; and came to the 
United States at the age of twenty, in the year 1790. He was destined by his 
previous education for the ministry ; but hearing, soon after his arrival, that a 
teacher was wanted in the grammar-school at Jamaica, he made a visit to the 
place, and producing satisfactory credentials of his character and qualifications, 
was immediately engaged as principal instructor in the classical department of 
the academy. His reputation as a scholar, and his capacity for imparting instruc- 
tion, as well as enforcing a correct discipline, increased with his age, and was 
never more exalted than at the time of his decease. He was united, a short time 
after his establishment here, with a daughter of Mr. David Lamberson, a highly 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 407 

respected and opulent merchant of the village, by whom he had a number of 
children. He was, as may well be supposed, an enthusiast in his profession, 
than which there is none, upon the able and conscious discharge of which, more 
important results to society depend, and whose moral influence upon the future 
characlerof a people is more important and valuable. It is, in truth, one of the 
most responsible situations in which an individual can be placed, and by him 
was felt to be so ; for he made the station of a teacher of youth, what all reflect- 
ing men ever desire to make it, a most honorable one. He was aware of its 
proper dignity, as well as the obligations it imposed ; and aimed to secure the one 
by an exact and skilful disciiarge of the other. He was not impelled forward 
by the mere feeling that so much time and labor were to be bestowed for a 
certain amount of 'money, but with the solemn conviction that responsibilities 
rested upon him, and of his moral accountability for the gradual improvement 
of those confidentially committed to his charge. By his talents, learning, great 
method, and untiring industry, he raised Union Hall Acaderay, from the condi- 
tion of an ordinary iirammar-school, to a high rank among the incorporated 
seminaries of the state; and hundreds were educated here, who now hold distin- 
guished stations in every department of society, and who must always tntcrtain 
the most sincere and profound respect and veneration for the memory of their 
former instructor and friend. 

Mr. Eigenbrodt perished in the ripeness of manhood, and in the midst of Jiis 
usefulness, in the year 1828, at the age of fifty- four ; having presided over the 
institution more than thirty successive years, and with a character for learning 
and virtue among his fellow- citizens which only time can diminish. He was 
eminent as a linguist, and for his attainments in general literature; and had been 
honored with the title of doctor of laws, the highest degree known in the Ameri- 
can colleges. In his manners, Dr. Eigenbrodt was modest and unpretending; 
in his habits, temperate and retiring ; and in all the endearing relations of hus- 
band, father, citizen, and friend, kind, affectionate, generous, and exemplary. 
There are those who have enjoyed a more brilliant reputation, and filled a larger 
space in the public eye ; but none in whom the mild and gentle virtues have shone 
more clearly, or by whom they have been more steadily and effectively inculca- 
ted. The influence and glare of exalted station, the splendor of particular feats 
in arms, the triumph of an hour, are apt to captivate attention, and even obscure 
or pervert the judgments of men, so that they may have little sympathy with, or 
admiration for, the ever-enduring, unostentatious exertions which mark the life of 
such a man as Dr. Eigenbrodt ; yet, if measured by their importance, by the self- 
denial they evince, the fortitude they require, by the daily, hourly abnegation of 
self which they imply; how vast is the difference between such services, and the 
public estimate of them — between common fame o-ndreal merit? Such men, 
beyond all question, deserve infinitely more respect and consideration from their 
cotemporaries than they generally receive; few are ready to confer honor where 
none is demanded ; experience shows that those most deserving of praise are the 
least obtrusive, and therefore often superseded and thrown into the shade of 
neglect by others, who, in reality, have little or no solid claim to public respect 
and gratitude. The subject of this notice was remarkable for his economy and 
prudence, while, at the same lime, he gave liberally for purposes of charity and 
benevolence. By his exemplary prudence in pecuniary matters, he left an ample 
fortune to his children, with the more inestimable inheritance of an unblemished 






40S HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

private character, and the animatino^ example of a life spent in doing good, in 
the practice of virtue, and the diffusion of knowledge and science. 

Egbert Benson. Tliis eminent jurist resided many years in Jamaica, where 
he died, the 24th of August, 1833, at the age of eighty-seven years. The follow- 
ing eloquent sketch of his life and services is from the pen of his intimate friend 
and associate, Chancellor Kent : 

Judge Benson was born in the city of New-York, June 22d, 1746, of respecta- 
ble Dutch parents, and was educated at King's (now Columbia) College, where 
he graduated in 1765. He was one of those sound classical scholars for the for- 
mation of which that learned seminary always has been, and still is, most justly 
distinguished. His taste for classicalliterature never forsook him, even during 
the strength and vigor of his age, and amidst the ardor of official duties. His le- 
gal education was acquired in the office of John Morin Scott, one of that band of 
deep-read and thorough lawyers of the old school, who were an ornament to the 
city at the commencement of the revolution. When he came to the bar, there 
were very few, if any, better instructed in the ancient and modern learning of the 
English common law. To great quickness and acuteness of mind, and profound 
discernment of character, he added much deliberation and c^^ndor. He was a 
master of order and method in business. If he was not the first, he was one of 
the first proficients in the science of pleading ; and his equal does not exist at the 
present day. But, though a strict technical lawyer, he did not cease to penetrate 
the depths of the science, and rest himself upon fundamental principles. He was 
more distinguished than any man among us, Hamilton alone excepted, for going, 
in all his researches, to the reasons and grounds of the law, and placing his opin- 
ion on what he deemed to be solid and elementary principles. His morals and 
manners were pure and chaste. He was liberal and catholic in his sentiments, 
without the smallest tincture of fanaticism or aifectation of austerity ; and noth- 
ing could weaken his faith or disturb his tranquillity, though he had to pass 
through the storms of a tempestuous age, in which tlie French revolution, and 
the daring speculations which accompanied it, attacked equally the foundations of 
religious belief and the best institutions of social life. 

Mr. Benson commenced the practice of the law at Red Hook, Dutchess Coun- 
ty, in 1772; but before he had time to enter largely into business, or to acquire 
much more than a scanty temporary provision for his support, the American 
war broke out, and raised him at once to an elevated scene of action. Here his 
abilities and spirit were brought to a test, and proved to be of sterling value. 
He was present at, and guided the earliest meetings in Dutchess County, prepa- 
ratory to a more organized resistance to the claims of the British Government. 
He took the lead in all the Whig measures adopted in that couniy ; a more zeal- 
ous and determined patriot, or one more thoroughly master of the grounds of the 
great national contest, did not exist. It followed, of course, that his knowledge 
of law and of the enlightened jn-inciples of civil liberty, and his practical and 
business talents, would carry him forward rapidly to places of high public trust. 
He was accordingly appointed first attorney-general of this state, by the ordi- 
nance of the convention of the 8th of May, 1777; and this painful and most res- 
ponsible office he discharged with the utmost zeal, ability, and integrity, during the 
whale period of the American war, and down to the spring of 1787, when he volun- 
tarily resigned it, on assuming other public duties. He was a member of the first 
legislative assembly of this state elected in 1777. His name in the public opinion 



TOWN OF JAMAICA. 409 

seemed to be identified with wisdom, patriotism, and integrity. He drafted almost 
every important bill that passed the assembly during the war ; and it is matter of 
public notoriety with those persons whose memories can date back to that period, 
that his name truly merits this transcendant eulogy. During the war he was the 
most confidential and efficient adviser of the elder Governor Clinton ; and it is 
well known that no governor had greater difficulties to contend with, as such, or 
surmounted them with better discretion and firmness. He was importuned and 
taxed with a perplexing variety of public concerns during the most busy and 
perilous periods of our revolutionary history. He was president of the board of 
commissioners in Dutchess County for detecting and defeating conspiracies, and 
it was under this authority that the board, in July, 1778, sent the Hon. William 
Smith, the historian of New-York, into the British lines ; and who did not fail to 
complain severely of the stern and inflexible manner in which the chairman of 
the commissioners had executed the power. Amidst the various and important 
duties of his several trusts, he was brought in contact, and formed friendships 
with, that host of eminent men that then swayed the councils of the state. A com- 
mon sympathy, as well as a common interest, is excited and felt at times of pub- 
lic calamity, and leads to generous and disinterested actions. Mutual respect 
and strong friendships were created and subsisted between Mr. Benson and Go- 
vernor Clinton, Gen. Schuyler, Chief-Justice Jay, Chancellor Livingston, Judge 
Hobart, James Duane, Alexander McDougal, Alexander Hamilton, William 
Duer, and a roll of other distinguished patriots, who adorn the page of revolu- 
tionary history ; and we need no better evidence of the great and useful talents of 
Mr. Benson, than to know the fact, that he was admired and beloved, and his 
counsels and society anxiously sought after, by all the leading men of the state 
during the best and brightest period of our domestic history. He took a zealous 
part in the adoption of the constitution of the United States, on which, as he 
uniformly thought and declared, rested all his hopes of American liberty, safety^ 
and glory. No person could be more devoted to its success. In 1789 he was 
elected one of the six representatives from this state to the first congress, in which 
he was continued four years. He drew the bills organizing the executive de- 
partment of the government, and he labored incessantly to further and sustain the 
riieasures that distinguished the glorious and unparalleled administration of Wash- 
ington. In this situation he had the happiness to add largely to the number of his 
particular friends, and to associate on cordial and confidential terms with such 
men as George Cabot, Fisher Ames, Oliver Ellsworth, RufusKing, William Pat- 
terson, George Clymer, and others of the same brilliant stamp, with whom there 
was an equal interchange of respect and esteem. As for Hamilton, he never thought 
or spoke of him without expressing his highest admiration of his talents, and reve- 
rence for his patriotism. Of Fisher Ames he used to say that he thought him the 
most perfect man he ever knew, and that he had the purity and wisdom of a seraph. 
In 1794 Mr. Benson was called into judicial lite, and appointed a judge of 
the supreme court of this state ; in which situation he remained several years, 
and fulfilled all its duties with the utmost precision, diligence, and fidelity. He 
did more to reform the practice of that court than any member of it ever did be- 
fore, or ever did since. The object of the rules of practice which he drew, was to 
save useless time and trouble, and facilitate business. He resigned in 1801, on 
receiving the appointment of chief judge in the second circuit, under a new ar- 
I rangement of the circuit courts of the United States ; but was deprived of the of- 

52 



410 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

fice by a repeal, in the following year, of the statute creating the new courts. 
Di.irin;3| the remainder of his life Judge Benson was principally confined to the 
occasional calls of iirofessional duty, and with short assumptions of places of 
public trust. He removed, many years ago, to Jamaica, where he continued dur- 
ing the rest of his life, boarding in the family of Mr. William Puntine. He 
continued to be blessed with a protracted old age, ''exempt from scorn or crime," 
and that '•' glided in modest innocence away ;" while the circle of his old friends 
and acquaintances became gradually more and more contracted, as his descending 
sun was casting its lengthened shadows before him. He used to amuse himself 
with the publication, now and then, of short tracts on what he deemed the errors 
and follies of the times ; fjr he had naturally a quick and keen perception of the 
false and ridiculous, and the flame of genuine patriotism never ceased to live and 
glow in his bosom, of which his criticism on the " Brituh Rule o/"175G," and his 
" Viiulicnlloii of the Ca/;^w/.s fy/'.A«f^/c," may be cited as examples. His wri- 
tings never received the attention which the good contained under a forbidding 
exterior justly demanded ; for by his constant efforts to attain sententious brevity 
he became oftentimes obscure. Tiiis great and good man lived to survive all his 
contemporaries, and seems to iiave died almost unknown and forgotten by the 
profession which he once so greatly adorned. He was happy, however, to have 
preserved his mental faculties, in respect to all ancient recollections and impres- 
sions, perfectly uniinpaired to the last ; and died as he had lived, in the most se- 
rene tranquillity, with entire resignation to the will of God, and in humble reliance 
on those means of salvation upon which he placed his hope from early life. 

TOWN OF NEWTOWN. 

This town is situated in the north-west part of Queen's, cen- 
trally distant from New- York about eight miles. It is bounded 
north by the East River, east by Flushing, south by Jamaica, 
and west by Kiug's County, together with the islands called 
the North and South Brother, and Riker's Island, formerly call- 
ed Hallet's Island, lying in the East River. The general In- 
dian appellation for the territory was Wandowenock, and was 
within the jurisdiction claimed by the Rockaway tribe. There 
was a small tribe of Indians at the head of Newtown Creek, 
known by the name of the Maspeth tribe, whose authority did 
not extend beyond the limits of their settlement. The place 
has since been called Maspeth, or the English Kill. The first 
white inhabitants of this town were enterprising English emi- 
grants, who came directly from the colonies of New-England, 
and settled themselves under the Dutch government of the 
New Netherlands ; although fully recognized as Dutch sub- 
jects, yet they were allowed many privileges appertaining to an 



TOWN OP NEWTOWN. 



411 



independent community, being permitted to enjoy their religious 
freedom, to be governed by ordinances of their own adoption, 
and to elect their own magistrates, to be approved, however, as 
in other cases, by the governor. The settlement was com- 
menced in 1651, but no formal purchase was made from the 
natives till several years after, the reason for which does not 
appear. It was customary, in the municipal regulations of the 
early inhabitants, to elect at town meetings certain officers, de- 
signated town's-men, whose duty it was to superintend and 
manage the public interests of the town, and to execute what 
in their opinion the common good required, except as related 
to the admission of new inhabitants and the distribution of 
lands ; these matters being considered of more vital importance, 
were reserved to be acted upon by the whole people assem- 
bled in town-meeting. It is probable, as was the case in most 
of the towns under the Dutch authority, that a general title to 
the lands had been originally acquired by the governor, as the 
first charter was obtained from Governor Sluyvesant in the 
yearl652 ; and a second, with more liberal provisions, and with 
more exactness as to the boundaries, was issued in 1655. Both 
of these documents, as well as a mass of other valuable papers 
relative to the early history of this town, were destroyed or tak- 
en away during t.he revolution ; the commanding officer hav- 
ing fixed his head-quarters here for a part of the time, and the 
British troops had full possession of the town for many years, 
committing the most extensive and wanton depredations upon 
property of every description. It appears, from the few records 
which have escaped destruction, that the following persons 
were inhabitants, and probably owners of land in the town, in 
the years 1655-6: 

William Hallet, 
Samuel Hallet, 
Henclrick Martinson, 
Robert Blacksvell, 
John Pearsall, 
George Stephenson, 
Thomas Skillman, 
John Johnson, 
Richard Alsop, 
Jolin Donnian, 



Thomas Stephenson, 
Gershom Moore, 
Jonathan Hazzard, 
Daniel Bloomfield, 
Caleb Leveridge, 
Joseph Sacket, 
Robert Field, 
Thomas Pettit, 
John Gray, 
Robert Field, juii., 



Content Titus, 
Lambert Woodward, 
Joseph Reeder, 
Jeremiah Reeder, 
Nathaniel Woodward, 
John Bull, ——.»._ 
John Wood, 
Thomas Morrell, 
Theophilus Phillips, 
Rcclitf Patterson, 



412 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



John Smith, 
Josiah Formal!, 
George "Wood, 
Nathan Fish, 
Edward Hum, 
Jeremiah Burroughs, 
Richard Beits, 
Thomas Betts, 
John Al-Buriis, 
James Way, 
Cornelius Johnson, 
Jacob Reeder, 
John Morrell, 
Elias Doughty, 
Thomas Lawrence, 
William Lawrence, 
William Hallet, jun.. 



Henn,- Maybe, 
John Reed, 
Joseph Phillips, 
Francis Way, 
John Wilson, 
Moses Pettit, 
John Forman, 
. Samuel Ketcham, 
John Ramsden, 
Riaeer Williamson, 
John Harrison, 
John Coe, 
Joseph Burroughs, 
William O shorn, 
Thomas Robertson, 
Benjamin Cornish, 
Francis Combs, 



Benjamin Stephens, 
Jacob Leonardson, 
Luke Depaw, 
Kathaniel Pettit, 
James Hayes, 
Richard Owen, 
Peter Burkhead, 
John Alden, 
John Resell, 
Angela Burger, 
Stephen Georgeson, 
John Lawrence, 
Thomas Wandell, 
John Kirtshaw, 
Jonathan Strickland, 
Grershom Hazzard, 
Henry Sawtley. 



This town, at the first settlement, and while it remained un- 
der the Dutch, was called Middleburgh ; but why it was so 
named, we have at this time no means of ascertainins:. A con- 
siderable portion of the oldest record is occupied witli details of 
trials before the town court, and among these, actions of slan- 
der hold a prominent place. The following is a fair sample of 
many others which might be quoted from these ancient chron- 
icles : '^Middleburgh, Aug. 21, 1659. At a cort held by the 
magestrates of the place aforesaid, John for man, plaintive, en- 
ters an action against fronds Dough ft/, defen', an action of 
slander. John flbrman declared that ffrancis Doughty charged 
him, that he had stole his choes, and therefore he was satisfied 
which way his things went. The cort finds for the defen', 
too guilders for attendance and the charge of the cort, to be 
pavd by John flbrman, because he doth not support his charge 
that he layd against the deten'." 

" At a general town meeting, held October 6, 1665, voted 
that Thomas Lawrence, Ralph Hunt, and Jo. Burrows shall 
be employed to get a draft of the bounds of the town, and get 
a pattin for the same ; also the town people to bear the charge 
accordins: to their several proportions."' Upon this application, 
a patent issued 16th of March, 1666, by which was granted 
and assured unto " Capt. Richard Betts, Capt. Thomas Law- 
rence, Capt. John Coe, John Burroughs, Ralph Hunt, Da- 



TOWN OF NEWTOWN. 413 

niel Whitehead, and Joost Burger, as patentees for and on 
behalf of themselves and their associates, the freeholders and 
inhabitants of Newtowne, their heirs, successors, and assigns, 
as follows : 

" All that the said tract of land herein menconed to have been purchased from 
the Indian natives, bounded on the east by Flushing Creek and a line to be 
drawne from the head thereof due south, extending; to the south side of the hills; 
on the north by the Sound ; on tiie west by the Maspeth Creeke or Kill, and a 
line to be drawne from the head thereof due south, extending to the south side of 
the liills ; on the north by the Sound ; on the west by the said Maspeth Creeke or 
Kill ; and a line to be drawne from the most westerly branch thereof due south, 
extending unto the south side of the said hills ; and on the south by a straight 
line to be drawne from the south points of the said west line, alongst the south 
side of the said hills, if meets with the said east line soe menconed, to extend 
from the head of Flushing Creeke as aforesaid ; as also all that one-third part of 
a certaine neck of meadow called Cellers-Neck, scituate, lying, and being within 
the bounds of Jamaica, upon the south side of Long Island; as also liberty to cut 
what timber within the bounds of Jamaica aforesaid they should have occasion 
for, for the fencing the said neck, and to make and lay out to themselves what 
highway or highways they should think fit, for their free and convenient egresse 
and regresse to and from the aforesaid neck or parcell of meadow. And that the 
said patentees, their associates, heyres, successors, and assigns shall enjoy all the 
privileges belonging to any town within this government ; and that the place of 
their habitation shall continue and retaine the name of Newtown, and so be dis- 
tinguished and known in all bargains, sailes, deeds, records, and writings." 

December 13, 1670. " At a town meeting, voated, that if 
Mr. Leverich shall continue in this town Xo preach the word of 
God, a rate of £40 shall be made for the building of a meeting- 
house, one-half to be payd in corn and the other half in cattle." 
— "At a cort, held May 6, 1674, the order of the cort is, that 
Thomas Case shall not entertayne William Smith's wife, un- 
knowne to her husband, as he will answer for the contrary at 
his peril." — " February 28, 16S3, voated that Mr. Morgan Jones 
be schoolmaster of our town, and will teach on the Sabbath 
days those that will come, allowing for exercising on that day 
what any one pleases." Of this person we find the following 
entry made by hinjself : " Whereas I, Morgan Jones, have offi- 
ciated for some time as a minister in Newtown without any 
agreement for a salary, upon the promise of some particular 
persons of the town to alloic me some small recompense of their 
own accord, I do hereby acquit and discharge the town of all 
salary, moneys, goods, or wares, which I might claim, August 



414 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

28, 16S6, Morgan Jone$y—" At a cort, held April 4tli, 16SS, 
Ann eleven did, in presents of the cort, own that she had 
spoken several tymes scandalous and reproachful speaches 
against William Francis, touching his good name ; she doth 
now confess her fault, and says she had done the said William 
wrong, and is sorry she spoke such words against him ; and 
hopes, for the time to come, she shall be more careful. She 
owns that she charged the plaintive with cheating her of a 
pound of tiax, and told the people to take notice he had stole 
her yarn." — "On the 29th July, 16SS, voated that Edward 
Stephenson and Joseph Sacket shall appear at the supreara 
cort, held at Fiatlands, to defend the town's right ; and that 
they have fall power to employ an atturney if they shall see 
fit, and what they do, we will ratify and confirm." — '• June 11, 
16S9, it was voated and agreed that Capt. Richard Betts and 
Lieut. Samuel Moore go to the county-town to meet the depu- 
tys of other towns, to vote for too men out of the county to go to 
Yorke to act with the rest in counsil as a committe of safety." 
— " These may certify all whom it may concern, that I, ffrancis 
Combs, being accused for speaking scandalous words and 
speeches, tendmg to the deffamacon of Marget, the wife of John 
tforman of Newtown ; I doe publicly declare that I am hertily 
sorry that the said 3Iarget is anywise by me defamed, not 
knowing any thing against her name, fame, or reputacon ; but 
that she lives honestly and grately with her neiglibors, and all 
other their Majesty's subjects. As witness my hand, October 
2, 1691, tfrancis Combs."'— » July 14, 1694, voted at town 
meeting, that the town will make a rate toward repairing the 
meeting-house and the town-house ; also for paying the mes- 
senger's expense, that is sent for a minister and for making a 
pair of stocks." 

On the 25th of November, 16S6, a new patent was granted 
by Governor Dongan, which, after reciting the date of previous 
patents, and the boundaries of the town as before mentioned, 
states that the freeholders and inhabitants had made application 
to him by William Lawrence, Joseph Sacket, John Way, and 
Content Titus, persons deputed by them, for a more full and 
ample confirmation of the tract or parcel of land contained in 



TOWN OF NKWTOWN. 



-ii:> 



the jiatent of IGOti from Governor Nicolls ; therefor he, the said 
Thomas Dongaiijtloth ratity, confirm, ttud grant all the said land 
and premises, with the houses, messuages, tenements, fencings, 
buildings, gardens, orchards, trees, woods, under-woods, pas- 
tures, feedings, common of pi\stures, meadows, marshes, lakes, 
ponds, creeks, harbors, rivers, rivulets, brooks, streams, ease- 
ments, and highway, together with the islands, mines, miner- 
als, (royal mines only excepted), fishing, hawking, hunting, 
aiui lowling, in free and common soccnge, according to the 
tenure of East-Greenwich in the county of Kent, in his Majes- 
ty's kingdom of England, (yielding and piying on the five and 
twentieth day of March, yearly for ever, the chiefe or quit-rent 
of three pounds four shillings,') unto the following-named per- 
sons, then being the freeholders and inhabitants of the town, to 
wit : 



Richanl Betts, 
Thomas Stephenson, 
Gurshom Moore, 
Jonathan Htv^zan.!, 
iSvUuuel Muorf, 
Daniel Bioomfiekl, 
Oa'.eb Leverich, 
iliiwaai Stevenson, 
Joseph Sacket, 
Samuel SoikUKt, 
Robert Fieiil, sen., 

Thomas Wandell, , __ 

John Catcham, HlLLf,^ John Uarickson, 
Thomas Pctet, Isaac Gray, 

John Woultoa Crafts, 
Johannis Lawivsse, 
John Rosell, 
Joseph Reeil, 
Roaletfe Peterson, 
Jacob Severson Van De 
Gritl, 



Jonathan Stevenson, 
Thonjas Case, 
John Alburtise, 
Jaiues Way, 
John Johnson, 
Richard Alsop, 
Hcmirick B. Smith, 
John U^ed, 
Benjamin Sufterns, 
Luke Depaw, 
!Nath«uiel Petet, 



Garsham Ha/.anl, 

Francis Way> 

Moses Petet, 

John Uamstlen, > < t A^ 

Philip Katcluun, /fy i ftii" 

Josias tll>rei«an, jun., 

Lambert WooilwanI, 
John Aloore, 

Thomas Law i-ence, 

Witliatn Lawrence, 

John Lawvence, 



Samuel Katcham, M fjL "William Hallet, sen., 

William Hallet,juu., 



Stottell Van Law, 
Abraham Rioke, 
Francis Comes, 
Thojnas Eiherinsou, 
Jeremiah Rider, 
John Way, 
Robert Field, jun., 
Jonathan Stickliti, 



Content Titus, 
John Fish, 
Cornelius Johnson, 
Abraai Yoris, 
John Coe, 
Sixmuel Fish, 
Joseph Buri-oughs, 
Thomas Robinson, 
James Hays, 
Jacob Rider, 
John Rider, 

John KichanI, 

Woulter Gisbertson, 

John Petet, 

Thomas Morell, 



Samuel Ilallet, 
Hendrick Martinson, 
Robert Blaekwell, 
John Farcell, 
William Pareell, 
George Stevenson, 
Thomas Parcoil, 
Stephen Georgeson, 
John BiK'khont, 
Anellcliie Bower, 
Thomas CilluKin, 
Peter Bockhout, 
John Denuiati, 
ilenry Mayel.jun., 
Theophilus Phillips, 
Anthony Gletn, 



4J6 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND, 

John Smyth, John Roberts, Jolm WiUsoit, 

Josias ffi>rman, se«,, Isaacke Swinion, John fibreman, 

Greorge Wih>J. Elias Doughty, Rinier Williamson, 
2^aiJian"Fish. Jane Rider, Benjamin Cornish. 

Edwaixl Hunt, John Allene, Henry Safly. 

Jeremiah Burroughs, Henry Mayel, sen., Joseph Rider, 

Thomas Be;ts, Joseph Phillips, Thomas Mjrrell. jun. 
John Scudder, jun., 

The first church was erected in the present village of New- 
town in the year 1670, on the arrival ot the Rtv. WiUian^ 
LevericA^ (sometimes spelled Leveridge.) He had been the 
first Presbyterian minister of Huntington, and was likewise one 
of the original purchasers ot the town of Oyster-Bay in 1653. 
Mr. Leverich remained here till his deatli in 1692, and was a 
higlily useful man, being well acquainted with public business, 
and distinguished for great industry and enterprise. The most 
ancient volume ol records in the clerk's oliice of this town is 
prefaced by about one hundred pages, in the hand-writing of 
this gentleman, but in abbreviated characters ; purporting to be 
a commentary upon a portion of the Old Testament, affording 
conclusive evidence of his learning, patience, and industry. 
He is characterized by Hubbard, in his history ot New-England, 
ae "an able and worthy minister. Many of his descendants 
are at this time residents of the town. The Bcv. John Morse 
succeeded Mr. Levericii in 1694, and although he is believed 
to have continued here several years, very little is known in 
relation to his family. The next minister was the i?< r. Sam- 
uel Pomcrot/ : he graduated at Princeton College in 1705, and 
settled here in 1709, where he continued till his decease in 
1744. His son Benjamin graduated at Yale College in 1733, 
and was ordained at Hebron, Connecticut, in 1735, where he 
died, Dec. 22, 17S4. The Bev. Simou Horton succeeded Mr. 
Pomeroy. He graduated at Princeton in 1731, and settled in 
this town in 1746 ; where he died, after a labor of forty years, 
in 17S6. His immediate succe^or was the Bev. XaJhan Wood- 
huU. He was born at Setauket, in tlie town of Brookhaven, 
in 1752 ; graduated at Yale College in 1775 ; and was first set- 
tled at Huntington, from whence he removed to this town in 
1775, where he died, March 13, ISIO. He was of prepossess- 



TOWN OP NEWTOWN. 417 

ing appearance and manners, possessed a tine genius, an amia- 
ble disposition, and was considered an eloquent preacher. Ho 
M'QS succeeded by the Bci. }yilli(jf/i Boardman in 181 1, who 
deceased in 1818, greatly lamented by all that knew him. 
His place was supplied in the Ibllowing year by the present 
respectable clergyman, the Nev. John Gohlsviif/i, a native of 
Southold, and a graduate of Princeton College in the year 
1S15. *S'^ Jameses Episcopal Church in this town was erect- 
ed in 1734, and obtained a charter of incorporation from Go- 
vernor Golden on the 9th of September, 1761. The persons 
named in the charter as wardens, are James Hazard and Rich- 
ard Alsop ; and for vestrymen, Samuel Moore, Jacob Black- 
well, William Hazard, Jacob Hallet, Richard Alsop the fonrth, 
and William Sacket the tlnrd. A site for this church, consist- 
ing of twenty square rods of ground, was granted at a town 
meeting held the 19th of April, 1733, and a deed was thereup- 
on executed for the same by ninety freeholders of the town. 
The church was originally united with those of Jamaica and 
Flushing, and enjoyed for many years the services of the same 
ministers in rotation. The first clergyman employed exclusive- 
ly in this jiarish was the Rev. Mr. Van Dykc^ who connnenc- 
ed his clerical labors in 1797. He removed in 1802, and was 
succeeded, some years after, by the Rev. Abraham L. Clark, 
who graduated at Yale College in 1785, and had been previous- 
ly settled in Flushing. His death took place in 1811. The 
Rev. Williani W//ati, who graduated at Columbia College in 
1809, was settled here in 1812; but was soon after invited to 
St. Paul's church, Baltimore, where he ranks among the most 
able and eloquent divines of that city. The Rev. Evan Af. 
Johnson is a native of Rhode Island, and graduated at Brown 
University in 1808. His settlement took place in this parish 
in 1814, where he remained about ten years, when he removed 
to St. John's Church in Brooklyn, of which Jie still continues 
rector. 

A Dutch Reformed Church has been erected in this town 
for more than a century, and has generally been supplied by 
the clergymen of the associated Dutch churches in the county. 
The present church edifice was completed in 1832. 

53 



41S HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

In the year 1S22 a large and expensive female seminary was 
built here by a few liberal and wealthy individuals, and incor- 
porated OR the 15th of March of the same year, by the name of 
the " Newtown Female Academy.'^ It in a short time acquired 
a high reputation, and was for some years much patronized by 
the public; since when it ceased to attract attention, and has 
long been relinquished as a place of education. Besides the 
villaofe of Newtown, there are several other small settlements 
scattered over the town, none of which, however, except 
Hallet's Cove, contain more than some half a dozen dwellings 
and a proportionate number of inhabitants. The population is 
generally diffused over the whole surface of the town, upon the 
shores ol the Bay, the East River, and upon Newtown Creek. 
The village of Newtown is conveniently located upon the turn- 
pike-road leading from Brooklyn and Williamsburgh to Flush- 
ing. It has the three churches before mentioned, a large town- 
house occupied as an hotel, three or four stores, a few mechanic 
shops, and about two hundred inhabitants. Middle- Village is 
a small hamlet occupying an elevated position upoji the turn- 
pike leading from Jamaica to ^Yilliamsburgh. Middletotcn is 
situated on the road from the village of Newtown to Hallet's 
Cove, and consists of a tavern, a store, and three or four dwell- 
ings. Maspeth, sometimes called the English Kills, is at the 
head of Newtown Creek, and is supposed to have been the 
former residence of a small family or tribe of Indians, which 
gave name to the place. Here is a large hotel, and several 
handsome dwellings ; one of which was formerly occupied 
by Governor De "NYitt Clinton as a country-seat, and where he 
probably composed some of his most valuable literary produc- 
tions. His f^^me and public services are deserving to be held in 
long remembrance by the future patriots of America. 

Hallefs Cove, so called from the first purchaser, is the most 
important place in the town, eligibly situated upon the shore 
of the East River, a little above Blackwell's Island, and opposite 
to Eighty-Sixth Street, New- York, where there is a convenient 
steam- ferry. The shore in this vicinity being considerably 
elevated, offers fine sites for building ; and no small degree of 
taste and elegance have been displayed in those already erected. 



TOWN OF XEWTOWX. 419 

The village itself is compactly built, and well calculated for 
com'-Tiereial and mauufacturing purposes. It is almost in sight 
of the spires of the metropolis, and possesses great fiicilities 
of intercourse. Of this remarkable spot, the tradition is, that 
an English adventurer, whose name was Hallet, about the year 
1640, for a barrel of beef and a few trinkets, purchased from 
the Indians this tract of land ; having taken to himself in mar- 
riage an industrious and sturdy Dutch lass, settled down here, 
and in the process of some tweuty years, by their united exer- 
tions became not only independent, but the parents of a nu- 
merous race, many of whom are still respectable in cha- 
racter and connections. How the preliminaries were arranged 
between the said couple has never been satisfactorily settled, 
seeing the gentleman understood not a word of Dutch, and the 
lady was equally unacquainted with Eno^lish. In this dilemma 
th3 negotiation was necessarily conducted by those signs and 
gestures which are the universal language of mankind. This 
suburban village has, within a few years past, exhibited much 
of the spirit of improvement, and has consequently already 
become the theatre of activity and enterprise in various 
branches of business. 

Two handsome churches and several splendid private man- 
sions have been lately erected here, which make an imposing 
appearance, especially when seen from the river. There are,, 
besides, an extensive manufactory of carpets, chair factory, 
' wood-card factory, bellows factory, one for chemical prepara- 
' tions. and several o^ardens and nurseries for the rearmg of fruit 
and ornamental trees. A great national improvement has been 
' proposed, that of opening a passage for ships through Black- 
j weirs-Point, avoiding thereby the delays and dangers attend- 
ant upon a navigation through Hell-gate. This celebrated 
' strait is in the immediate vicinity, where those, says a certain 
I writer, who love to witness the impstuous strite of angry 
' currents, with crajged and zigzag courses among the rocks, 
can hardly find a better place for full gratification. 0;ir esteemed 
countryman, Washington Irving, Esq., speaking of this fa- 
mous pass, says, " Hell-gate is as pacific at low icater as any 
other stream: as the tide rises, it begins to fret ; at half 



420 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

tide it rages and roars^ as if bellowing for onore water : hut 
when the tide is full, it relapses again into quiet, and for a 
time seems almost to sleep as soundly as an alderman after 
dinner. It may he compared to an inveterate drinker, who 
is a peaceful felloiv enough when he has no liquor at all, or 
when he is skinfull ; hut lohen half seas over, plays the very 
devil.'^ xlmong other persons of taste and opulence, who have 
chosen this as a place of residence, is the well-known seedsjnan 
and florist, Mr. Grant Thorburn, an extraordinary example of 
virtuous industry and perseverance, crowned bv great and well- 
merited success. Here is also the residence of the late General 
Ebenezer Stevens, a distinguished patriot of the revolution, 
and highly esteemed for integrity and honor throusfh life. It 
is now occupied by his son Samuel Stevens, a highly respect- 
able member of the legal profession. The Hallet's Cove Rail- 
way Company was incorporated April 15, 182S. with a capital 
of $50,000, for repairing vessels, &,c. 

Considerable efforts have been made to build up a beautiful 
villa upon the banks of the East River, a little south of Hallet's 
Cove ; upon which has been conferred the name of Ravens- 
tcood. The site is sufficiently elevated to afford the most 
charming view of the adjacent country, and possessing charms 
which almost equal some descriptions in eastern romance. 
The situation will hardly suffer by comparison with the 
beautiful scenery of the Thames at Wmdsor. Already 
several houses have been completed, and others are in the 
course of erection. In the vicinity are the valuable farms 
of the corporation of New- York, upon which buildings have 
been constructed for the accommodation of more than five 
hundred orphan children, maintained and educated at the 
public expense. 

The surface of this town is generally undulating, in some 
parts hilly ; the soil of a middling quality ; in the neighborhood 
of the Sound and the shores of Flushing Bay, it is much superior 
and better cultivated. There is, however, within its limits 
a good deal of low, swampy land, not susceptible of profita- 
ble culture, some of which yields turf or peat of a kind 
which has been extensively used for fuel. Upon the south 
side of the town, adjoining the Jamaica and Williamsburgh 



TOWN OP NEWTOWN. 421 

road, is one of the most extraordinary milk establishments 
in this part of the country. In 1834 Mr. David Mills purchas- 
ed, for eight thousand dollars, the farm of the late Dr. Isaac 
Ledyard, containing two hundred acres. The whole has since 
been divided into fields of five and ten acres by substantial 
stone walls, whereby the land has been cleared of the surface 
stone. By the course of husbandry pursued, the grounds have 
been rendered fertile and productive. A two-story stone 
edifice has been constructed, one hundred and fifty feet long 
aiid forty wide, divided into fifty stalls on each side, three feet 
by twelve, and a way left through the centre, to pass with 
a loaded wagon. Here are maintained one hundred cows, 
which consume one ton of English hay, and eight hundred 
quarts of Indian meal per day. The average quantity of 
milk obtained being nine hundred quarts daily, and which, at 
seven cents a quart, amounts to sixty-three dollars a-day, or 
twenty-two thousand nine hundred and ninety-five dollars per 
annum. It is much to be lamented that the inhabitants of our 
cities should not be fully supplied with milk of this description, 
seeing that no reasonable impediment exists to prevent it. 

Jonathan Lawrence. This gentleman, so conspicuous in the most trying pe- 
riod of American history, was descended from a family who were among the 
earliest settlers of the English towns within the Dutch jurisdiction upon Long Is- 
land. Thomas, his great grandfatlier, with two elder brothers, John and William, 
left England during the political troubles wliich preceded the death of Charles I. 
They landed in Massachusetts, and subsequently proceeded to this province, then 
called New Netherlands. John Lawrence, the eldest brother, was one of the six 
persons to whom the patent of Hempstead was granted in 1644. In the next 
year he and his brother William, with sixteen others, obtained the original pa- 
tent of Flushing from the same governor. They were also among those to whom 
the confirmatory patent was issued by Governor Nicolls in 1666. Soon after the 
two Dutch patents before mentioned were granted, John Lawrence removed from 
Flushing, where he had established his residence, to the city of New Amsterdam 
(New-York,) and accumulated a large fortune for those times by mercantile pur- 
suits. He held important public stations under both the Dutch and English go- 
vernments. In 1663 he was deputed by Governor Stuyvesant to the general court 
at Hartford, as a commissioner on the part of the New Netherlands to adjust the 
boundaries between the Dutch and English colonies, and other disputed matters ; 
was appointed an alderman of New-York upon the first organization of that 
city, after its capture by the English in 1664; was twice mayor of New- York; 
was a member of the council of the province during a great part of the interval 
between 1675 and 1698; and at the time of his death, in 1099, was one of the 
judges of the supreme court, to which he was appointed in 1692. His will, on 



422 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

file in the office of the surrogate of New- York, neatly written in 1698, in his own 
hand, states that he was then over eighty years of age ; and he devises his inter- 
ests in the towns of Hempstead and Flushing, as the survivor of the patentees 
of both towns. 

William Lawrence, the second brother of John, above mentioned, became 
the proprietor of Lawrence's Neck, (so called,) which stretches into the Sound 
between Flushing Bay and Whitestone, containing about nine hundred acres, 
a part of which is the present site of St. Paul's College. He served in the ma- 
gistracy of Flushing under the Dutch, and afterwards held both civil and mili- 
tary offices in the north-riding of Yorkshire upon Long Island. He died in 
1630, leaving numeroas descendants and a widow, Elizabeth, (daughter of Rich- 
ard Smith, the patentee of Smithtown), who was afterwards married to the Hon. 
Philip Carteret, governor of New Jersey, and from whom Elizabethtown receiv- 
ed its name. Major William Lawrence, his eldest son by his first wife, married 
in 1630, Deborah, the youngest daughter of the above-named Richard Smith, and 
had a numerous family. Adam Lawrence, one of the descendants of William 
the first settler, was high-sheriff of Clueen's County under the colonial govern- 
ment, and Joseph Laiorence, another descendant, represented that county in the 
assembly in 1785. Some of his descendants, marrying among the numerous 
followers, in Flushing, of George Fox, became attached to the respectable reli- 
gious society of Friends, of whom they proved among the most intelligent, enter- 
prising, and exemplary members. Among the owners of land found upon 
the records of Newtown, in the year 1655, appear the names of the said Tho- 
mas Lawrence, and his brothers John and William. To the first-named, with 
six other persons, the patent for Newtown was issued by Governor Nicolls in 
1686. By purchase from the Dutch settlers, Thomas Lawrence became proprie- 
tor of the whole of Hell-gate Neck, then divided into a number of cultivated 
farms, and extending along the East River, from Hell-gate Cove to the Bowery 
Bay. In the patent for Newtown from Governor Dongan, in 1686, Thomas, 
William, and John Lawrence, all sons of the above-mentioned Thomas Law- 
rence, are named as patentees. 

On receiving the news of the revolution in England of 1668, and of the remo- 
val of Sir Edmund Andros as Governor of Massachusetts, the family of Thomas 
became decided actors in asserting the principles which had prompted his depar- 
ture from England. Many persons in Clueen's, however, as well as Suffolk Coun- 
ty, were not disposed to second the popular feeling which had vacated the offices 
at the city of New- York, and placed Leisler at the head of afl^airs. Not discouraged 
at the lukewarmness of his neighbors, Thomas Lawrence, tliough far advanced ii-i 
years, accepted the command of the forces of Clueen's County. William, one of 
his sons, was appointed one of the committee of safety, by whom the government 
of the colony was for a time assumed, and soon after one of the council of the 
province ; an office which he subsequently held from 1703 to 1706, under a com- 
mission from Clueen Anne. John Lawrence, another of the sons of Thomas, 
had the command of the troop of horse of the county assigned to him, with his 
brother Daniel as cornet. John was soon afterwards appointed high-sheriff of 
the county, to which place he was also chosen in 1698. Among the meagre 
records which are left of Leisler's times, is the entry of an order to Major 
Thomas Lawrence, dated 29th July, 1690, " to press seventy men, horse and foot, 
as he shall think fit; and horses and provisions ; and despatch them to Southoldfor 



TOWN OF NEAVTOWN. 423 

the defence and protection of their Majestie's subjects therey The misconception 
or obstinacy, whiciiever it was, that influenced Leisler in delaying to surrender the 
fort at New-York to Governor Slaughter on his arrival, involved all the membeis 
of his council in the consequences of this omission ; and William Lawrence, with 
the rest of them, were seized and committed on a charge of high treason. John 
Lawrence, his uncle, who, from the caution of age or a disapprobation of the vio- 
lence of some of Leisler's proceedings, had never countenanced his elevation, was 
appointed on the commission with Sir Thomas Robinson, Col. "William Smith, 
and others, to try these political offenders. These proceedings do not appear, 
however, to have interrupted the mutual confidence and affection of the uncle and 
nephew. 

Thomas Lawrence died at Newtown in July, 1703, leaving five sons — Tho- 
mas, William, John, Daniel, and Jonathan; of whom John alone permanent- 
ly remained at Newtown. He was the grandfather of Jonathan Lawrence, 
the subject of this notice; and married Deborah, the daughter of Richard Wood- 
hull, one of the patentees of Brookhaven ; and died at Newtown, December 17, 
1729. He left three sons — Thomas, John, and Nathaniel. Of these, John was 
born at Newtown, September 9th, 1G95, and intermarried, on the 8th Decem- 
ber, 1730, with Patience, daughter of Joseph Sacket, Esq. He was a very 
wealthy farmer, possessing great perseverance and intelligence, and served in 
the magistracy of the county for many years. He died iVIay 7, 1765, leaving 
seven sonsi and one daughter ; two sons and one daughter having died in his life- 
time. Jonathan Lawrence, his eighth son, named at the head of this article, was 
born at Newtown, October 4, 1737, and was early engaged in mercantile pursuits, 
visiting Europe and the West Indies under the direction and in the employ of his 
eldest brother John, an eminent merchant of New-York, and connecting himself 
afterwards in commercial affairs as a partner of the house of Watson, Murray, 
and Lawrence. His own gains, the property left him by his said brother John, 
his portion of the estate of his brother Nathaniel, who died unmarried in the West 
Indies, and the patrimony derived from his parent, enabled him to retire from 
business when about thirty-four years of age. He purchased a residence at 
Hell-gate, which had belonged to his great-grandfather, Thomas Lawrence 
(one of the three emigrating brothers,) intending to enjoy the ease which his 
))ecuniary circumstances seemed to secure to him. The agitating questions 
between the mother country and her colonies, soon, however, forbade him to be 
inactive. In 1774 we find him a leading member of the political committees 
of Newtown ; his efforts and the influence of his brothers and relatives there, 
contributed to redeem the town from the ill-timed loyalty which distinguished 
most of the other portions of the county. In 1775 he was appointed a member 
of the provincial congress that met at New-York. In 1776 he was again deputed 
to that body, and was afterwards elected to the convention of 177()-7, which 
formed the first constitution of this state. He had previously, in 1772, received 
the commission of captain in the provincial militia from the royal government; 
and on the organization of the militia by the provincial congress in 1775, he was 
appointed major of the brigade, composed of the militia of CLueen's and 
Suffolk, of which Nathaniel Woodhull, Esq. was at the same time appointed 
general. He accompanied that brave officer in the expedition ordered by the 
convention in 1776, to prevent the supplies of Long Island falling into the hands 
of the invaders, and was probably saved from participating the sad fate of his 



424 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

gallant comrnander, by having been dispatched by him to the conyention at 
Harlacra for further orders ; and having been thereupon sent by that body to 
General "Washington to endeavor to obtain the additional force that had 
been promised from the army at Brooklyn. During the time spent in these 
military operations, the battle of Long Island had been fought, much ofthe island 
had fallen under the control of the enemy, and stragglers from their ranks had 
spread over it in search of booty. All personal communication with his family 
being cut off, he could only trust to sending a letter secretly to advise them of his 
situation and to direct their future conrse. The convention had adjourned from 
Harlaem, and sought a place of more safety for their deliberations at Fishkill. 
His anxiety for his family was soon relieved by their arrival at Harlaem. 
Having embarked at the river side in the night, on board a small boat, under the 
guidance of a faithful slave, they crossed over amid the darkness, unobserved, to 
Great Barn Island, leaving the house and the rest ofthe property, (except a few 
articles of clothing, and a small chest containing seme mcney, plate, and other 
valuables,) to the mercy ofthe invaders, who had already taken possession thereof. 
From this time Mr. Lawrence was the only attending member of the conven- 
tion fcona th? county of (iieaas. On the 9th of May, 1777, he, William 
Harper, and Matthew Cantiae, were appointed commissioners to superintend 
the manufacture of gun-liints, sulphur, lead, and salt : the want of which was 
severely felt, and which could not then be obtained from abroad. In the course 
of his duties, he visited the Oneida Indians, procured the holding of a council 
of their chiefs, made satisfactory experiments on the waters of some of the salt 
sorings in the western part of the state, and contracted with the Indians for 
such salt as they might be able to produce. Some veins of excellent lead-ore 
were also discovered, but not in sufficient quantity to justify the working of them. 
The supplies afterwards obtained from France and elsewhere superseded the 
necessity of further efforts on the part of the commissioners. On the adoption of 
the state constitution in 1777, and the organization ofthe government, it became 
impracticable for those parts of the southern district possessed by the enemy to 
elect representatives to the legislature, and the convention deemed it their duty 
to appoint members of assembly for those counties; they also chose Leicis 
Marris, Pierre Van Co-rllandt, John JMann Scott, Janathan Laiiyrence, Willicm 
Flayd, William Smith, Isaac Roosevelt, John Jones, and Philip Licingsion, to 
be senators of the district, till others could be elected in their places as prescribed 
by the ordinance of the convention. Mr. Lawrence served under this appoint- 
ment during the residue ofthe war. In 177S he was appointed a commissioner 
to execute a law for completing the five continental battcdions raised under the 
directions of this state, the duties of which office he successfully performed. On 
the arrival of Count d' Estaing's squadron off Sandy-Hook, and in the hope of 
aiding an enterprise that might hasten the termination of the contest, Mr. 
Lawrence, with other volunteers, joined the fleet in the expedition against 
Rhode Island, embarking on the 20ih of July from Black-Point in New Jersey. 
He was assigned to the man-of-war L'Eector, of seventy-four guns, Captain 
Mories. The wind was unfavorable; and on their arrival off Newport, much 
delay ensued from the state of the weather iuad other circumstances : and it weis 
not till the 6th of August, 177S, that they were enabled to get into the harbor, 
which was effected under an incessant fire from Brenton's Point, Fort Island, and 
other places. Most of the troops had been landed on the 9th, when the fleet of 



TOWN OF NEWTOWN. 425 

L^rtl Howe, anchoring oS" the harbor, a re-embarkation was ordered ; and the 
next day, the wind faToring, the French fleet cut their cables and stood out of 
port, exposed to an increased fire from the forts guarding the passage. Howe 
cut his cables also, and proceeded to sea ; but by the time the fleets had obtained 

position, which rendered an engagement apparently inevitable, a storm ensued, 
which dispersed the hostile ships, and made it necessary they should seek places 
of repair at New-York aiid Boston. In the October following, Mr. Lawrence 
was chosen a member of the council of appointment for the southern district. 
In February, 17S0, he was appointed, with Isaac Stoutenburgh and Stephen 
Ward, commissioners of forfeitures for the said district ; and on the 13th of 
August was made one of the commissioners of sequestration for Dutchess 
County. In October of the same year he was placed at the head of the commis- 
sion of the southern district, under acts previous passed for raising a sum in 
specie, the better to secure the redemption of a new emission of bills contemplated 
by the continental congress, and was actively engaged in that office in 1781. 
He was again a member of the council of appointment in 17S2. In 1783 he 
resisted, though unsuccessfully, the passage of a bill declaring those described 
therein, who had adhered to the enemy, to have been aliens from the date of 
the declaration of independence; and which, if carried into effect, must have 
produced the most deplorable consequences. The council of revision, in the exer- 
cise ef their prerogative, reteiined the bill till the ensuing session, when the 
objections made by them were acquiesced in by the senate, and the bill of course 
rejected. 

Peace being concluded in September, 1783, Mr. Lawrence was enabled to 
visit his long-deserted home. He found his land stripped of its timber and fences 
his stock and furniture destroyed or removed, and his house, having been occu- 
pied by British ofiicars, greatly injured. During his long exile, he had not only 
exhausted those means which had been saved from the enemy, the gains which 
he had occasionally been enabled to make during its continuance, and numerous 
sums owing to him ; but had also contracted debts, which the sale of his lands 
and other resources would little more than repay. Having now, at the age of 
forty-seven, a large family to support and educate, he resolved to recommence 
business in the city of New-York, and endeavor to repair his ruined fortune. 
Though nearly destitute of pecuniary means, he found himself in good credit; yet 
his mercantile pursuits were not productive of all the benefit he had anticipated. 
The lands belonging to the state being offered for sale, he embarked somewhat 
largely in the purchase of them, and by resale from time to time, not only 
avoided the bankruptcy which befell other purchasers, but found himself in com- 
fortable circumstances, with a considerable surplus of land unsold. His fortunes 
gradually improving until the time of bis death, he was enabled to distribute a 
very considerable estate among his family. This result was aided by a well- 
regulated economy, equally removal from wastefulness and parsimony. Al- 
though he declined again to be returned to the legislature, he was not an indif- 
ferent spectator of passing events. He took an active part in the re-election of 
Governor George Clinton ; and when the constitution had been ratified by the 
requisite number of states, he was anxious for the concurrence of this state ; from 
which period he acted uniformly with the republican party of the Union. His 
death occurred in the city of New-York, at the age of seventy-five, on the 4th of 
September, 181*2. He was twice married ; Jirst, to Judith, daughter of Nathaniel 

54 



426 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



Fish, who died at the age of eighteen years, and by wJiom he had one son ; 
secondly, to Ruth, daughter of Andrew Riker of Newtown, who survived him, 
and by whom he had seven sons and two daughters. One of these, Samuel 
Lawrence, lately deceased, has been both a representative in the assembly of this 
state and the congress of the United States ; and was one of the electors of presi- 
dent and vice-president in 1816. 

The brothers of iNlajor Jonathan Lawrence were all born at Newtown, and 
those who survived till the period of the revolution were zealous Whigs. His only 
younger brotlicr, Cd. Daniel Laicrence, was, like himself, an e.xile from his home 
from 1776 to 1783; and served as a member of assembly from Queens, under the 
ordinance of the convention of 1777, from that year till the termination of the war. 
He married Aliss Van Horn, a lady of highly respectable family in the city of 
New- York ; and died, leaving numerous descendants, in 1S07, at the age of 
sixty-eight years. Samuel Laicrence, the brother neit older than Jonathan, was 
a man of great probity and imperturbable courage, united with great goodness of 
heart. He died in ISiO, at the age of seventy -five, leaving no issue. Thomas 
Lawrence, the next eldest brother, was born in 1733, and died in his eighty-fourth 
year in 1S16. About the age of twenty-five he was appointed to the command of 
the ship Tartar of eighteen guns, and made several cruises in her from New-York 
during the old French war. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Fish, 
Esq. of Newtown. Possessed of wealth, he settled on a farm on the shore of 
Flushing-Bdv. He was appointed, in I7S4, one of the judges of Q.ueen's County : 
and was distinguished for great decision of character, and by all the punctilious 
observances which characterise the ehves of the old school. He had a numerous 
family, most of whom he survived. His son, Nathaniel, born in 1761, entered the 
North Carolina line of the regular American army as a lieutenant, after he had 
left Princeton College, and while under lawful age. He was made prisoner by 
the enemy, after behaving with great gallantry. In 17S8 he was chosen from 
Glueens to the CTjnvention which ratified the constitution of the United State?, 
He also held the office of attorney-general of this state from December 24, 1792." 
to November 30, 1795 : and represented dueen's County in the assembly in 1791, 
2, 5 and 6 ; in which latter year he died, at the age of thirty-five. His wife was 
Elizabeth, daughter of Judge Berrien, and aunt of John McPherson Berrien, late 
attorney-general of the United States. His only child, Margaret, is the wife of 
President Lindsley of the college at Nashville in Tennessee. 

William Laicrence, the next eldest brother, was, for many years a magistrals 
of dueen's County, and filled the station with usefulness. On the capture of 
Long Island in 177G, part of his house at Newtown was made the head-quarters 
of the British General Robertson, and himself and family were snbjected to many 
of the exactions and vexations which others who had rebel predelictions, experienc- 
ed from the invaders. He died in his sixty-fifth year, in 1794. His eldest son, 
John, served as an officer on board the American frigate Confederacy, Capt, 
Harding, and died in 1816 at New-York. His son, Richard, was an eminent 
merchant in New- York, who, becoming bhnd, retired to Newtown, where he 
died. His son "William died on his plantation in Demarara ; and Isaac, another 
son, was the late President of the United States bank in New-York. The 
Hon. James Lent, who died during his attendance in congress in 1833, was a 
grandson of the said William Lawrence. Richard Lawrence, the next eldest 
arother, born in 1725, died in 1781. He was a captain of horse in the militia of 



TOWN OF NEWTOWN. 427 

Q,ueen's County. Falling into the hands of the loyalists during the revolution, he 
was confined in the Provost at New-York, and while there contracted an illness 
which terminated his life. The news of the capture of Cornwallis being communi- 
cated to him in his last moments, he declared his readiness to die, now that the 
ultimate triumph of his country was secured. This gentleman left no issue. 
J^athaniel Lawrence, the next eldest brother, died at St. Enstaiia in the West 
Indies, unmarried, in 1761, aged thirty-four years. Joseph Lawrence, the ne.xt 
eldest brother, married Patience Moore, aunt of the late Bishop Moore of New- 
York, and died at Newtown, aged seventy years, in 1793. One of his daughters, 
Anna, married Samuel Riker, Esq. (father of the Hon, Richard Riker, late 
recorder of the city of New-York,) who was for several years a representative 
from this state in congress. John Lawrence^ the eldest brother of Jonathan Law- 
rence, settled in New-York at an early age, and became a distinguished merchant 
in that city. In 1759 he married Catherine, daughter of PiiLilip Livingston and 
«ister of Governor William Livingston of New Jersey. Having no issue, after 
making ample provision for his widow, he distributed the residue of his property 
among his brothers and sisters. The celebrated W^hitfield, then in this country, 
pronounced his funeral sermon. His death took place in 1764, in his forty-third 
year; and his body was deposited in the family vault of the right Honorable the 
Earl of Stirling, in the yard of Trinity Churcii. 

John Berrien Riker. Generally speaking, ihere are few men who stand in 
each bold relief among the mass of mankind as to be peculiarly distinguished by 
great and noble deeds, and to be worthy also of having their names enchased 
among the biographical memoirs of their distinguished cotcmporaries. Yet some 
such men there are, so peculiarly fortunate, who, with only good talents, virtue, 
and honor for their portion, are so intimately associated with the times and events 
in which they lived, as to become an essential and interesting portion of their 
history. . Of this class of men was Dr. John B. Riker. 

He was born at Newtown, Long Island, in the year 1738, and was descended 
from a worthy and highly respectable fomily of the same name, settled there 
about two hundred years ago. This family originally emigrated from the town 
of Lintz in Lower Rhine, and, driven by Catholic persecution from their native 
country, fled into Holland, where they were finally induced by the flattering re- 
presentations of the Dutch government, to embark for America. Guisberb Riker, 
the common ancestor, arrived at New Amsterdam, (now New-York,) about the 
year 1640 ; and soon after became the owner of a considerable tract of land in the 
town of Newtown, adjoining the Sound, and also the island which has for 
many years borne the name of Riker's Island, situate in the Sound, opposite the 
mouth of Flushing Bay, and containing about fifty acres of excellent land. This 
■property has descended in a direct line in the family for many generations to 
the present time. Indeed, few families have been more conspicuous for their 
amiable qualities and usefulness than the descendants of Guisbert Riker. 

Dr. Riker was a gentleman of talents and high professional attainments ; he 
engaged as a surgeon in the American army in 1775, was with the troops under 
General Washington at Trenton, in 1777, and proved of the most essential ser- 
vice, as well for his perfect knowledge of the country, as for his excellent ad- 
vice on several important occasions. He continued with the army from the com- 
mencement of the war till the establishment of peace in 1783 ; after which he 
settled as a physician in his native town, where he lived universally respected 



428 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

and beloved till his death, at the age of fifty-seven. His brother, Abraham Ri- 
ker, was a captain in the American army that captured Burgoyne on the plains 
of Saratoga. He died at Valley Forge in 1778, occasioned in a great measure 
from severe exposure, having, as he expressed it, " a rock for his pilloro and the 
heavens Jar his canopy." His brother, Samuel Riker, was a farmer, and lived at 
Newtown, where he died, at the age of fourscore years. He was also engaged in 
the service of his country in the i-evolution. He was a member of assembly 
from Glueen's County in 1784, and the last act of his public life was to i-epresent 
his district in Congress in 1708-9. The Hon. Richard Riker and John L. Ri- 
ker, Esq., are sons of the said Samuel Riker, and his daughter is the wife of Dr. 
James NcNeven. 

Of the eminent talents and profound judicial knowledge of the late Recorder, 
little need be said ; they are both extensively known and universally acknow- 
ledged. The able manner with which he presided for so long a period in the 
court cf sessions in New- York, and the extraordinary qualities he displayed in 
the discharge of his onerous and important duties, are conclusive evidence of his 
great attainments and high moral worth. Perhaps by no individual, at any 
time or in any country, have the principles of criminal law been more firmly yet 
temperately administered, and where the rigid rules of law have been more hap- 
pily blended with the benign precepts of moral justice and equity. 

De Witt Clinto.v. This great and good man, though not a native of New- 
town, yet spent so considerable a portion of his valuable life here, as to render it 
highly appropriate to give a brief detail of his private and public character, in 
connection with the history of the town. It has been doubted, (says Dr. Mitchili,) 
whether it is more desii-able to be descended from an illustrious ancestry, or to 
rise in the world, and be the maker of one's own fortune. The former appears 
to be the preferable case ; though even here, where titles, estates, and honors have 
been won, they not unfrequently descend to some unworthy or unqualified indi- 
vidual, or, for lack of heirs, the family becomes extinct. Generally, it is harder 
work to establish a name than to inherit it ; still it strikes many, that on that 
very account the achievement is more glorious and honorable. 

As far back as the reign of Charles I. the family from whom Mr. Clinton was 
lineally descended, were possessed of such character and influence as to invoke 
the displeasure of the ruling powers for their attachment to that ill-fated mon- 
arch. On which account, during the usurpation of Ci'omwell, they were obliged 
to expatriate themselves, and finally settled at Longford in Ireland, where Col. 
Charles Clinton, the grandfather of Mr. Clinton, was born. He emigrated to this 
country in 1729, and was soon after appointed surveyor-general. His intimacy 
with George Clinton, who was governor of the colony of New-York from 1743 to 
1753, doubtless contributed to give him greater influence. He settled in Ulster 
County, New- York. His sons, Alexander and Charles, were bred to the profes- 
sion of medicine; James and George distinguished themselves in the French 
war, and in the war of the revolution, holding the oflice of majors-general in the 
American army. James died in 1812, and George on the 20th of April of 
the same year, having been governor of this state for twenty-one years, and 
was vice-president of the United States at the period of his death. The truly 
illustrious subject of this memoir was the son of Gen. James Clinton, was born 
at his father's residence, Little Britain, Orange County, March 2d, 1769; and 
received his early education at a grammar-school in the neighboring village of 



TOWN OF NEWTOWN. 429 

Stonefield, under the care of the Rev. John Moffat, from which, at the age of 
thirteen, he was sent to an academy at Kingston, taught by Mr. John Addison, 
where he remained till prepared to enter the junior class of Columbia College in 
1784, and graduated at the first public commencement of that institution afterthe 
revolution in 1786. He was acknowledged to be the best scholar in his class, 
manifesting at an early age a remarkable quickness of perception and a vigorous 
power of intellect, which he ever after exhibited, added to a fine talent for composi- 
tion and extemporaneous debate. On his leaving college he entered upon the study 
of the law, in the office of the late Samuel Jones, a gentleman deservedly eminent in 
his profession, formerly recorder of the city, and subsequently comptroller of the 
state. Under such tuition, with a m.ind well disciplined to habits of study, and 
richly stored with all the elementary knowledge of his profession, he soon ac- 
complished his judicial studies; and accordingly, in 1790 we find him practising 
at the bar with a success that gave promise of high legal reputation, when he 
was invited to be secretary to his uncle. Governor Clinton, which he retained 
till the close of his administration in 1795. In the mean time he had been cho- 
sen secretary to the board of regents of the university. In 1797 he was elected a 
member of assembly for the city of New-York, in 1800 a membpr of the senate, 
and in 1810 was chosen by the legislature a senator of the United States, as the 
colleague of Governeur Morris. He was appointed, in 1799, first judge of 
Glueen's County, where he occasionally resided ; but circumstances induced him 
to decline the appointment. In 1803 he resigned his seat in the senate of the 
United States, on being made mayor of New- York, which office he retained till 
March, 1807. He continued in this situation, by successive re-appointments, 
till 1815, when, from violent party opposition, he was compelled to retire; and 
during the years 1815, '16, and '17, was but a private citizen. In 1817 he 
was elected, almost unanimously, to succeed Daniel D. Tompkins as governor 
of the state. He was re-elected again in 1820, although opposed by Mr. Tomp- 
kins, then vice-president of the United States, who had once more become a 
candidate. In 1823 he voluntarily declined the office, and once more retired 
to private life, devoting himself to the pursuits of science and literature, 
holding only the unprofitable office of canal commissioner, but from which he 
was removed, in 1824, by the shameless malignity of political opponents. This 
extraordinary act of party meanness and puny persecution was thoroughly re- 
tuked by the majesty of public opinion, and resulted in his elevation to the gu- 
bernatorial office by a larger majority than had ever been known in this state 
at a contested election. He was re-elected in 182G, and retained the office till his 
death, which occurred suddenly' at his house in Albany, on the 11th of Fe- 
bruary, 182f . This great calamity was universally felt ; and the public testimo- 
nials of respect and veneration for his memory in every part of the state and 
Union, were alike honorable to the people, and a due appreciation of the cha- 
racter, talents, and services of the deceased. As a philosopher, a statesman, a 
writer, a scholar, an orator, a delightful companion, a correct citizen, and a pure 
and honest man, his name, (says Dr. Hosack,) will go down to posterity divested 
of every reproach. His reputation was not confined to the country he imme- 
diately benefited by his services. In the literary circles, and in the scientific in- 
stitutions of Europe, his name was familiarly known as among the most eminent 
men ofliis day. It is evidence of the high estimation in which he was held, that 
lie was honored by being made a member of many learned societies in Great Bri- 



430 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

tain, and held also an extensive correspondence with some of the most distin- 
guished men of the age. He was an honorary member of the Linnean, the 
Horticultural Societies of London, and of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh ; was 
in habits of intercourse with the late Sir James Edward Smith, the learned presi- 
dent of the first, and with Mr. Knight and Mr. Sabine, the able officers of the latter. 
The acknowledged reputation which Mr. Clinton attained in his literary charac- 
ter, taken in connection with his extensive public services, is to be ascribed, not 
only to his native taste and ardent love of knowledge, but to the wonderful in- 
dustry and order with which he performed his many and various duties. He was an 
early riser, and devoted every moment that could be spared from official and ne- 
cessary calls to the cultivation of his mind. No one was more ambitious of a re- 
putation for science and literature, and few ever made a more successful progress 
in the acquisition of useful knowledge. In some of the physical sciences he was 
especially well versed ; and as a classical'and belles-lettres scholar, his proficiency 
was very considerable. He observed the utmost punctuality in all his engage- 
ments ; his regard for truth and honor being one of the cardinal principles of his 
mind and character. When released from the severer labors which employed his 
attention, a volume of the classics or a work on science occupied his moments of 
relaxation ; and his large and well-stored library constantly afforded him ample 
sources of study and entertainment. The ordinary amusements of fashionable life 
presented no attractions for him, but were avoided, as not only involving the loss 
of time, money, and reputation, but as incompatible with those pursuits and views, 
belonging to him who .has at heart the dignity of his own character, the higher in- 
terests of science, and the welfare of his country. In his person Mr. Clinton was 
tall, finely proportioned, and of commanding aspect. His physiognomy pointed 
out great mental activity and power, and the phrenological developments of his 
head were of the most remarkable character, uniting great benevolence with the 
highest degree of integrity and moral courage. The superior dignity of his per- 
son indicated a bold and haughty temper; yet nothing was further from the truth, 
for he was constitutionally timid, and only an exalted sense of public duty caused 
him to exercise on any occasion his ability i'or public speaking. His untiring 
industry and perseverance in various public stations were distinguishing attri- 
butes, and exercised, to their fullest extent, amidst the abuse, calumny, and 
ridicule, which he was compelled to encounter from the vampires of reputation, 
while prosecuting his great projects of internal improvement. Indeed, (ew men 
were ever assailed by a more determined opposition, and no man ever triumphed 
more completely over every obstacle which came in his way. The task was truly 
herculian, and the issue most honorable and glorious for his future fame. 

In his domestic and social relations he was cheerful and kind ; in his friendships 
warm and sincere; and in his moral character most unexceptionabe. As a speaker, 
he was slow, cautious and deliberate, manifesting the constant exercise of his under- 
standing. He never indulged in rant or vehemence, either of voice or gesture ; 
yet his clear and logical method, force and perspicuity of style, and dignity of 
manner, gave, whether in the judgment seat or in a deliberate assembly, an effect 
and influence which few others ever exercised in this state. If, indeed, the posses- 
sion of strong native powers of mind, aided by extensive attainments ; if an 
innate spirit of patriotism, quickened and directed by a knowledge of the interests 
of his country ; if a life devoted to the unceasing performance of public duty and ex- 



TOWN OP BUSHWICK. 431 

pended in the service of his native state, entitle the possessor to respect and grati- 
tude, Mr. Clinton presents the strongest claims, not only to the affections of his 
countrymen, but to a distinguished place among the sages, statesmen, and bene- 
factors of America. 

Two of the most important objects of his heart he lived to see accomplished — 
the establishment of a better system of common schools, and the Erie Canal, the 
last of which should be called by his name, as the most appropriate and durable 
monument of his fame and services. Whatever claims may be asserted by others 
in this stupendous project, all impartial and intelligent men are now convinced 
that the glory of its execution of right belongs to hins. From its commencement, 
through all its subsequent embarrassments, he stood forward, through good and evil 
report, as its fearless and unwavering advocate, staked his character upon its suc- 
cess and tendered his reputation as its surety. He lived to see the consummation of 
the work, desiring no other recompense for his time and services than a conscious- 
ness of the incalculable importance of the project to present and future generations. 
in the performance of his judicial duties, his learning, firmness, and integrity have 
received an unqualified encomium from all. As a magistrate, he was enlightened 
and dignified ; in all the relations of life public, and private, he had few equals and 
no superior ; and his death was truly a subject of regret, not only to his friends but 
to the nation. As yet no monument has by the public been raised to his memory ; 
but, to the honor of the present executive of the state of New- York, the subject has 
been brought before the legislature, and will, it is presumed, result in the adoption of 
some measure creditable alike to all. For, in the words of Governor Seward, " the 
custom of honoring the dead commends itself to the natural sentiments of mankind ; 
and although, in ignorant and depraved countries, it has been abused by the erection 
of l»jramids, and temples, and tornbs, to preserve the ashes of t^jr ants, it cannot, 
among an enlightened people, be othenoise than right and expedient to perpetuate 
the memory of public benej actors, and thus stimulate and encourage emulation of 
their deeds.''' 

TOWN OP BUSHWICK. 

This town, situated in the north-east extremity of Icing's 
County, is bounded westerly by the East River, northerly by 
Maspeth or Newtown Creek, easterly by Newtown, and 
southerly by Brooklyn, and that part of Flatbush called New- 
Lotts. Its area is 3,860 acres, of which a greater portion 
is under cultivation; its proximity to the cities of Brooklyn 
and New- York rendering it valuable in a high degree. The 
precise period of its settlement is not satisfactorily ascertained, 
but is believed to have been some years later than Brooklyn and 
the more southern towns. It was commenced by the Dutch, 
who were joined, many years after, by a number of Hugonot 
families, whose descendants are numerous and respectable in 



432 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

this and the neighboring towns. The name is of Dutch origin, 
indicating that the territory was remarkable for the woods 
which covered its surface in early times. There are some 
famiUes here, who can trace their ancestry back nearly two 
hundred years, and, as possessing at that period, the identical 
lands now in the occupation of their descendants. The in- 
crease of population in this part of the country, was so small as 
not to acquire its municipal character before the year 1648, at 
which time application was made to the governor for a patent 
or o-round-brief. One was accordingly issued, and under which 
the inhabitants remained till the conquest of New Netherlands 
in 1664. The government having now fallen into other 
hands, and many considerable defects existing in the charter 
granted by Governor Stuyvesant, the people of Bush wick, in 
1666, at a town meeting assembled for the purpose, appointed 
a committee to wait upon Governor Nieolls, " to solicit him for 
a new patent, and to request that therein the boundaries of 
their plantation might be more expressly defined and set forth." 
This patent was obtained on the 25th of October, 1667^ 
wherein, among other things, the hmits and bounds of the 
town are set forth in the words following : 

"Bounded with the mouth of a certain creeke or kill, called Maspctli-Kill, right 
over against Dominie- Hook, see their bounds goe to David Jocham's Hook ; 
then stretching upon a south-east line along the said Kill, they come to Smith's 
Island, including the same, together with all the meadow-ground or valley there- 
unto belonging; and continuing the same course, they pass along by the ffence 
at the wood- side, soe to Thomas Wandall's meadow, from whence, stretching 
upon a south-east by south line, along the woodland to the Kills, taking in the 
meadow or valley there ; then pass along near upon a south-east by south line 
six hundred rod into the woods ; then running behind the lots as the woodland 
lyes, south-west by south ; and out of the said woods they goe again north-west, 
to a certain small swamp ; from thence they run behind the New Lotts, to John, 
the Sweede's-meadow ; then over the Norman's-Kill, to the west end of his old 
house from whence they goe alongst the river, till you come to the mouth of 
Maspeth-Kill and David Jocham's Hook, whence they first began." 

From the organization of the town till the year 1690, it was 
for certain civil purposes associated with the other towns in 
the county, except Gravesend, constituting a separate dis- 
trict under the appellation of the " Five Dutch Toivns ;" and 
for which a secretary or register was specially commissioned 



TOWN OF BUSHWICK. 433 

by the governor, whose duty it was to take the proof of wills, 
of marriage settlements, also the acknowledgment of ^^Tran- 
scripts,^^ or conveyances, and many of the more important con- 
tracts and agreements ; all which were required to be recorded. 
This office was, in 1674, held by Nicasius de Sille, who had 
once held the office of attorney-general under the administra- 
tion of Stuyvesant. These five towns likewise formed but one 
ecclesiastical congregation, and joined in the support of their 
ministers in common. The inhabitants, with few exceptions, 
professed the doctrines promulgated at the synod of Dort 
in 1618, most of whose resolutions are still adhered to 
in the Reformed Dutch churches. The churches were at 
that period, and for along time after, governed by the classis of 
Amsterdam, and so continued till about the year 1772, when the 
American churches repudiated any dependence upon the mother 
church, and established classes and synods of their own, on the 
model of the church of Holland. In the year 1662, according 
to one authority the dwellings in this town did not exceed 
twenty-five, and were located on the site of the village of 
Bushwick, which, with the Octagon church, built in 1720, were 
enclosed by palisades, as most of the other settlements were. 
In the minutes of the court of sessions is the following entry : 

"At a Court of Sessions, held at Flatbush for King's County, 
May 10, 1699. Uppon the desire of the inhabitants of 
Breucklyn, that according to use and order every three yeare 
the limmitts betweene towne and towne must be runn, that a 
warrant or order may be given, that upon the 17th day off 
May, the line and bounds betwixt said tovvnes of Breucklyn 
and Boswyck shall be run according to their pattents or agre- 
ments. Ordered, That an order should be past according to 
theire request." 

The population of this town was very inconsiderable at the 
time of the revolution compared with other parts of the coun- 
ty ; yet they suffered greatly from the depredations of the 
enemy. They were particularly exposed to the invaders, who 
made, of course, an indiscriminate destruction of whatever 
their caprice or revenge dictated, Tiie nearness of its forests 
to the garrisons and barracks of New- York and Brooklyn led 

55 



434 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

to the entire waste of the valuable timber which abonnded at 
the commencement of the contest. On the return of the own- 
ers to their homes at the close of the war, they found not only 
the woods and fences destroyed, but their dwellings, in many 
instances, greatly deteriorated in value. 

On the 12rh of May, 1664, the magistrates of this town sen- 
tenced one John Van Lyden, convicted of pubhshing a libel, 
to be fiistened to a stake, with a bridle in his mouth, eight 
rods under liis arm, and a label on his breast with the words, 
^'- writer of lampoons, false accuser, and defamer of onagis- 
trates.p upon it, and then to be banished from the colony. An 
instance also occurred, of a clergyman, who had improperly 
married a couple, being sentenced to ^^ flogging and bariish- 
ment^^ hut which, on account of the advanced age of the de- 
linquent, was mitigated by the governor to banishment only. 
Another person, convicted of theft, was compelled to stand for 
the space of three hours under a gallows, with a rope around 
his neck and an empty scabbard in his hands. In 1664 per- 
mission was given by the town to Abraham Janson to erect a mill 
on Maspeth Kill, which was probably the first water-mill built 
within the town, and for grinding of the toion's grain he was to 
receive the " cvstomary duties.''^ November 12, 1695, the court 
of sessions of King's County made an order " That Mad James 
should be kept at the expense of the county, and that the dea- 
cons of each towne within the same doe forthwith meet 
together, and consider about iheu proper cons for maintainence 
of said James." 

The Village of WilUamshurgh is not only the principal set- 
tlement, but contains within its corporate limits more than 
two thirds of the whole population of the town. This flourish- 
ing village was, till within a few years, an inconsiderable place, 
although it was commenced, by a few spirited individuals, 
nearly thirty years ago, by erecting a few houses and esta- 
blishing a ferry between it and the foot of Grand Street. 
At which period the houses on the New- York side, in the 
vicinity of the ferry, were scattering ; and where extensive 
blocks of buildings and a large population now exist, was then, 
in a great measure, an open field of broken ground ; and a ge- 



TOWN OF BUSHWICK. 435 

neral want of confidence in the project of making this a place of 
business, retarded its operations and prevented its growth. In 
the year 1817 a ferry-boat, impelled by horse power, gave a new 
impulse to Williamsburgh, and it began to assume an import- 
ance before unknown. Still, the main current of travel was by 
way of Brooklyn, and the progress of improvement here was 
slow and gradual. At that time the road leading to the fer- 
ry was the principal thoroughfare of the village, and where 
there are now wide and handsome streets partially built upon, 
were then cultivated fields, orchards, &c. Such was the state 
of things, in a great degree, when the first act of incorporation 
was obtained, April 14, 1827, which proved, in fact a new 
and important era in the increase and prosperity of the village. 
The territory embraced in the act is as follows: "Begin- 
ning at the bay or river opposite the town of Brooklyn, and. 
running thence easterly along the division line between the 
towns of Bushwick and Brooklyn to the land of Abraham A. 
Remsen ; thence northerly by the sanae to a road or highway 
at a place called Sweed^s Fly ; thence by the said highway to 
the dwelling-house late of John Vandervoort, deceased ; thence 
in a straight line northerly, to a small ditch or creek, against 
the meadow of John Skillman ; thence by said creek to Nor- 
man's Kill ; thence by the middle or centre of Norman's Kill 
to the East River ; thence by the same to the place of begin- 
ning." The first trustees appointed in this act were Noah 
Waterbury, .lohn Miller, Abraham Meserole, Lewis Sandford, 
and Thomas T. Morrill ; of whom the first-named, a well- 
known and spirited individual, was chosen president. The 
boardjunder the extensive and liberal provisions of this charter, 
applied themselves immediately and vigorously to the laying 
I out of streets and building-lots as the basis for future improve- 
ments; and every thing was done by them which the state of 
thino-s at that time seemed to authorize or require. Neverthe- 
less the increase of business and population was not equal to 
Uhe public expectations until another portion of territory was 
I included in the incorporated part of the village, and addi- 
Uional powers conferred upon the trustees by the act of April 
18, 1835. This additional legislative provision vested the pub- 



436 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

lie concerns of the village in the hands of nine trustees, o f 
which new board Edmund Frost was chosen president ; and 
by whose zeal, industry, and perseverance, much has, within a 
short time, been accomplished for the increase and welfare of 
the place. Such has been the progress of improvement, that 
the ancient village of Bnshwick can scarcely be identified, having 
become amalgamated with the village of Willlamsburgh. In- 
deed, it now seems both a matter of surprise and deep regret 
that public attention should not have been sooner and more 
efficiently attracted towards a place possessing so many and 
superior natural advantages for the successful prosecution of 
every species of manufacture and commerce, and for the erec- 
tion of pleasant and convenient private residences. Situated 
opposite the very heart of the city of New- York, it has a 
bold water-front upon the East River of a mile and a half, 
with a sufficient depth for all commercial purposes ; and has this 
advantacre over Brooklyn, that its entire shore is under the con- 
trol of its own local authorities. There has already been con- 
structed, under the act of the 22d of April, 1S35, and the sta- 
tutes before mentioned, several large and substantial wharves 
and docks, affording safe and convenient mooring for A-essels, 
even of the largest class. Its ferry is, by two or three miles, 
the nearest approximation to the upper parts of the city from 
the eastern towns, and is connected with the upper and lower 
parts of the city by double lines of steam ferry boats of the best 
kind, and remarkable for their accommodations and speed. 
The ferry to Peck Slip may be said to unite the village with 
the Fulton and Catharine markets, while another is in contem- 
plation to the foot of Houston Street, leading to the upper wards 
and Harlaem. Williams burgh now contains seventy-three streets 
permanently laid out, of which twenty-seven have been opened i 
and regulated, including one McAdamised and seven paved 
streets. The number of dwellings is five hundred and eighty, 
and the inhabitants about three thousand five hundred. There 
are one Dutch Reformed and two Methodist churches, ten fire 
companies, one hook and ladder company, two distilleries, 
which consume annually more than two hundred thousand 
bushels of grain, one steam spice mill, five rope-walks, an ex- 



TOWN OF GRAVESEND. 437 

tensive glue factory, two hat manufactories, one iron foundry, 
two lumber-yards, two lime and brick yards, one coal yard, six 
hotels, one drug store, and a due proportion of other meclianics 
and tradesmen. A considerable number of elegant dwellinas 
have lately been erected in the southern part of the village, 
owned and occupied by persons doing business in New-York. 
Many other inducements exist, besides an easy and speedy com- 
munication with the cit}^, tliat will insure a rapid influx of 
inhabitants, and an expansion of business in every department. 
The improvements in contemplation, and partially in progress, 
along the shore south of the present ferries, will in time unite 
with those in the vicinity of the navy -yard at Brooklyn ; and in 
half a century perhaps form a continuous city from the mouth 
of Newtown Creek to Ked-Hook, a distance of four miles. 

TOWN OF GRAVESEIsD. 



This town occupies the most southerly part of King's County, 
including also Coney Island, which is washed by the Atlantic 
Ocean. It is centrally distant from New- York city about ten 
miles ; bounded east by Flatlands, south by the sea, and west 
by New Utrecht, of a triangular shape with its base upon the 
ocean, and terminating northerly in a point adjoining Flatbush. 
Much of the territory consists of salt-marsh, not more than one 
third being returned as improved land ; the surface generally 
level, but near the sea-shore are some ridges of sand-hills. 
This town, unlike the rest of the county, was settled by En- 
glish people, mostly from Massachusetts, as early as 1640, 
who gave it the name of Gravesend, they having sailed from a 
place of that name in England on their departure for America. 
They were joined soon after by a small colony of English Qua- 
kers, accompanied by Lady Deborah Moody, a woman of rank, 
education, and wealth, who, with several others residingat Lynn, 
Sandwich, and other towns in New England, had imbibed the 
religious sentiments of George Fox, and being objects of jea- 
lousy and persecution with the Puritans there, determined 
to settle elsewhere. Considering the situation of this town 
calculated for the site of a commercial village, they proceeded 



43S HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

almost immediately to lay out ten acres of ground near the 
centre into streets and squares, which tliey enclosed with a 
palisado defence. The plan of the village is still preserved 
in the clerk's office of the town, and is worthy admiration for its 
simplicity and beauty. It seems the project was soon after 
abandoned on discovering the insufficient depth of the water for 
the approach of large vessels. One of the original squares of 
the contemplated city was occupied by the court-house of the 
county so long as the courts continued to be held here ; another 
contained the first Dutch church ; and a third has long been used 
for a public cemetery. On the same plot are a considerable 
number of graves ot the first duakers, the whole of which 
have been levelled by the plough, except that of Peter Sullivan 
and his wife, at the head of which is a large granite slab, con- 
taining only the names of the deceased. As this particular sect 
make no use of such memorials, it was probably placed here by 
some friend or relative who was not a Quaker. 

The first patent or ground-brief was granted by Governor 
Kieftin 1643 to Antonie Jansen Van Sale (or Anthony Johnson) 
for one hundred morgen of land, which was afterwards known 
as the Old Bowery. A morgen was a Dutch measure of little 
less than two acres, consisting of six hundred square Dutch 
rods. On the 24th of May, 1644, a patent was also granted to 
Guisbert Op-Dyck for Coney Island, called in the patent Cunny 
Island, and by the Dutch Conynen-Eylandt, probably from 
the natne of an individual who had possessed some part of it. 
Pine Island, then called Coni/?ie-IIook, was at that time sepa- 
rated from the former by a creek, which has since disappeared. 
The latter was doubtless the spot upon which the discoverer 
Hudson and his crew landed in 1609 before entering the bay 
of New- York. A general patent for this town, written both 
in Dutch and English, was obtained from Governor William 
Kieft on the 19th of December, 1645. The patentees named 
therein are the Lady Deborah Moody, Sir Henry ]\Ioody, Ba- 
onet, Ensign George Baxter, and Sergeant James Hubbard, with 
their associates ; and is for "A certain quantity of land lying 
or beitig upon or about the westernmost part of Long Island, 
beginning at the Jiorth of a creek adjacent to Conyne-Island, 



TOWN OF GRAVESEND. 439 

and hounded on the west 'part thereof with the lands belonging 
to Anthony Johnson and Robert Pennoyre ; and to run as far 
as the westermnost part of a certain pond in an old Indian 
field 071 the north side of the plantation of the said Robert 
Pennoyre ; and from thence to run directly east as far as a 
valley^ being at the head of a fly or marsh som,e time belonging 
to the land of Hugh Garretson ; and being bounded on tJie 
south with the main Ocean^ with liberty to put what cattle 
they shall see fitting to feed or graze upon the aforesaid 
Cony ne- Island, and with liberty to build a toicn, with such 
necessary fortifications as to them shall seem expedient ; and 
to have and enjoy the free liberty of conscience according to 
the customs and manners of Holland without molestation, and. 
to establish courts, and elect magistrates, to try all catises not 
exceeding fifty Holland guilders^ 

The circumstance of this patent beinof granted to a female, 
and her being also first-named, is a matter of some curi- 
osity ; and, in connection with events hereinafter mentioned, 
exhibits the Lady j\loody in a conspicuous hght. She being a 
considerable personage in the early history of the town, it is 
important to ascertain, as far as possible, the particulars 
of her history. We find it mentioned in tlie very interestino- 
publication by Mr. Alonzo Lev/is, entitled " History of Lynn, ''^ 
that the Lady Deborah Moody came to that town in the year 
1640. That in 1635 she went from one of the remote counties 
in England to London, vvdiere she remained in opposition to a 
statute which directed that no person should reside beyond a 
limited time from their own homes. On the 21st of April of 
that year, the court of Star-Chamber ordered that ^'Dame Debo- 
rah Mowdie'' and others, should return to their hereditaments 
in forty days, in the good example necessary for the poorer 
class. That soon after her arrival at Lynn, on the 5th of 
April, 1640, she united with the church of Salem ; and on the 
13th of May the court granted her four hundred acres of land. 
In 1641 she purchased the farm of the deputy-governor, .Tohn 
Hunifrey, called Swamscut, for which she paid £1100. That 
some time afterwards she became imbued ivith the erroneous 
doctrine that the baptism of. infants was a sinful ordinance 



440 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

and was thereupon excommunicated; and that in 1643 she 
removed to Lono; Island. Governor Winthrop, in his journal, 
says, that "in 1613 Lady Moody was in the colony of Massa- 
chusetts, a wise and anciently religious woman ; and being 
taken with the error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt 
withal by many of the elders and others, and admonished by 
the church of Salem, whereof she was a member ; but persisting 
still, and to avoid further trouble, &c. she removed to the 
Dutch, against the advice of her friends." "After her arrival 
at Long Island, (says Mr. Lewis,) she experienced much trouble 
from the Indians, her house being assaulted by them many 
times. Her wealth enabled her to render assistance to Gover- 
nor Stuyvesant in some trouble with the neighboring settlers 
in 1654 ; and so great was her influence over him, that he 
conceded in part the nomination of the magistrates to her. 
In the quarterly court records her son is styled /Sir Henry 
Moody." "At the same court, December 14, 1642, the Lady 
Deborah Moodie, Mrs. King, and the wile of John Tilton, were 
presented, for holding that the baptism of infants is no ordi- 
nance of God." From these historical relations we learn the 
reason why the Lady Moody, her son /Sir Henry Moody, 
Ensign Baxter, Sergeant Hubbard, John Tilton, and many 
others of her associates and friends, left New England, and 
planted themselves at Gravesend, where they hoped to enjoy 
the most perfect freedom of opinion, unawed by the civil 
power, and be allowed unmolested to propagate those religious 
principles which to them seemed most agreeable to their 
principles of reason and justice. All this, it would seem, was 
intended to be secured by the patent above-mentioned; how 
far it was realized under the governor's successor will ap- 
pear hereafter, when we view the persecutions practised upon 
the Quakers of this and other towns under the Dutch juris- 
diction. Lady Moody probably retained a portion of her large 
real estate in New England ; for Governor Winthrop says, 
that in 1646 the house of Lady Moody at Salem was injured 
by a tempest, the roof being torn off; which fact he likewise 
mentions in. a letter to his son John, then living at Fisher's 
Island. A release or conveyance from the Canarsee Indians 



TOWN OF GRAVESEND. 441 

was obtained for Gravesend-Neck and Conyne Island, on the 
7th of May, 1654. Other conveyances in different parts of the 
town were procured at ditferent times, both by the town and 
by individuals, which in the end occasioned no small diffi- 
culty, in consequence of the clashing of boundaries, the 
description of which, in deeds, were frequently inconsistent ! 

and obscure. 

On the 1st of January, 1643, a soldier was convicted before 

the court of sessions at Gravesend of having left his station 

while on guard, and was punished by being compelled to sit 

; upon a wooden horse during the parade, with a pitcher in one 

' hand and a drawn sword in the other ; to show that he loved 

j beer more than his duty, and that his courage was always to be 

j determined by the quantity consumed. " At a town meeting, 

1 September 27, 1644, it was voted that those as should have 

\ Boweries, (farms,) should have fifty morgen of upland, with 

! meadow proportionable to their stock ; and it was further 

ordered, that if any did not build a habitable house by the last 

* of May next, should be defaulted, and forfeit their land to the 
' town." The records of this town, which were kept uniformly 

in the English language, are still preserved almost entire. They 
commence with the year 1645, and for a series of years are 
chiefly occupied with records of wills, inventories, letters of 
administration, and a variety of private contracts, bargains, 
sales, &:.c. In January, 1648, the town elected Sergeant 
James Hubbard, a man of respectability and influence, to exe- 
cute the office of a scout or constable, which was considered 
of much importance. On the 14th of April, 1649, .Tohn 
Furman agreed with the town to keep their calves three 
months for twenty guilders a month, to be paid in money, 
tobacco, or corn, and some bitters, if desired. In March, 1650, 

* it was required of every owner of a lot of ground to pay one 
guilder toward the common charges of the town, to be collected 
and paid by Mr. Stillwell and Jos. Tilton. In December of 
the same year it was ordered that every man should fence the 
head of his lot upon the town square, with a sufficiency of 

'. palisades, by the middle of April next. Within this palisade 
] enclosure, which included the original town-plot of ten acres, 

56 



442 



HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 



the inhabitants secured their cattle during the night, and them- 
selves also, when apprehensive of danger from the natives ; in 
which case an arm^-d guard was employed. That wolves 
were both plentiful and mischievous at that time, appears from 
the fact, that on the 8th of August, 1651), three guilders were 
otFered for each wolf killed in the town, and two guilders for 
a fox. It was ordered also that every man be provided with 
a gun, a pound of powder, and two pounds of lead or bullets. 
Every owner of a house was likewise required to provide him- 
self a ladder of twenty feet or more in length. It was also voted 
and agreed in town meeting, that whoever should transgress, 
in word or deed, in defaming, scandalizing, slandering, or 
falsely accusing any, to the breach of the feace and the re- 
proach of the place, should sutler condign punishment accord- 
ing to his demerit, as should be thought meet by the magis- 
trates, by fine, imprisonment, stockings or standing at a 
'public post. 

In the year 1650 the following persons are ascertained to 
have been inhabitants and freeholders of the town : 



William GoalJing, 
Jacob Swart, 
Walter Wall, 
Charles Mc"gan, 
Peter SiiiT^on, 
John Cock, 
John Laiis, 
La\vri=nce Johnson, 
Jo in Brou^^liman, 
William Wilkins, 
Tohn Tilton, 



John Van Cleef, 
Thomas Spicer, 
Ralph Cardell, 
James Grover, 
Carson Johnson, 
Thomas Baxter, 
William Bowne, 
Thomas Whitlock, 
Richard Gibson, 
Rxhard Stout, 
James Hubbard, 



William Nicolls, 
Edward Brown, 
John Thomas, 
Lady Deborah Moody, 
Elizabeth Applegute, 
John Bowne, 
John Peters, 
John Applejiiate, 
Lyman Lasv, 
Thomas Morrell, 
James Curlear. 



In 1654 Governor Stuyvesnnt rejected certain persons who 
had been nominated by the town for magistrates, and snbmitted 
for his approbation ; these were Baxter and Hubbard, who had 
rendered themselves obnoxious to his displeasure by their 
fidelity to the people, and their opposition to the arbitrary 
measures of his administration. Tiiis produced great offence, 
and the popular indignation rose to so high a pitch, that his 
Excellency found it expedient to go in person to Gravesend. 
In order to allay the general excitement, he was induced to 
avail himself of the popularity and influence of the Lady 



TOWN OF GRAVESEND. 443 

Moody, and even committed the appointment of the magistrates 
to her discretion. Whether this remarkable woman continued 
here till her death, or returned again to New England, is not 
certainly known. It is supposed, that while she remained 
here, she occupied the farm of the late Van Brunt Magaw, now 
owned by Samuel Smith, Esq., and one of the best in the 
county. It appears that the neio;hboring Indians were some- 
times troublesome to the white settlers; and on one occasion 
a considerable body of Indians from the Main attacked the 
place, assaulting the house of the Lady Moody, and would 
have destroyed her and her family, (as they did Lady Ann 
Hutchinson and her party a short time before at Throg's 
Point,) had they not been overpowered by the number and 
courage of the inhabitants. Upon the Dutch records in the 
office of the secretary of the state, is the following entry, bear- 
ing date March 25, 1643: 

" Whereas, in some time past, several misunderstandings have taken place 
between the savages of Long Island and our nation, by which, from both sides, 
the blood has streamed upon the land, the houses have been robbed and turned, 
with the killing of th? stock and carrying off the corn by the Indians, so it is, 
that between us and them, who already follow the banner of their great chief, 
Peimowits, a solid peace has been established, so that all injuries, from whatever 
side, are hereby forgivim and forgotten." 

A confirmation patent for this town was obtained from 
Governor Nicolls on the 13th of August, 1668, in which the 
boundaries do not vary from those described in the patent of 
Governor Kieft in 1644. An additional patent was issued on 
the 1st of July, 1670, by Governor Francis Lovelace; which, 
after reciting the most material parts of the original Dutch 
patent, and the bounds therein-mentioned, proceeds as follows : 

" Know ye, that by virtue of the commission and authority unto me given by 

his Royal Dlighness, I have ratified, confirmed, and granted, and by these pre- 

I sents do ratify, confirm, and grant unto Thomas Delavall, Es-[. Mr. James 

Hubbard, Ralph Cardall, William Bowne, John Tilton, William Goulding, 

I and Samuel Spicer, as patentees, for and on behalf of themselves and their asso- 

j ciates the freeholders and inhabitants of the said town, their heirs, successors, 

\ and assigns, all the fore-mentioned quantity, tract, and parcel of land, together 

with the inheritance of all Coney Island, (reserving only the privilege of erecting 

huts for fishing and drying of nets there upon occasion for all persons who shall 

undertake that design for the public good.) Including all the land within a lino 

Btretching from the uttermost part of the said Island, unto the southernmost 



444 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

part of Antony Jansen's Old Bowry ; their east bounds being the Strome Kill, 
which comes to the marsh or Fly of Mathew Gerritsen's land aforementioned. 
As also the meadow-ground and upland not specified in their former patent ; con- 
cerning which there have been several disputes and diiferences between the inha- 
bitants of the said town and their neighbor Francis Brown, the which in part 
were issued both by my predecessors and myself, but since fully concluded and 
determined between them by articles of agreement ; the which articles I do hereby 
confirm and allow, with all havens, quarries, rivers, &c. Given under my hand, 
and seal of the Province at Fort James in New- York, this first day of July, in 
the 22d year of his Majesties Reign, Anno Domini, 1670. 

" Francis Lovelace. 
" Mathias Nicolls, Sec." 

On the 26th of March, 1777, an agreement was entered into 
between the towns of Gravesend and New Utrecht m relation 
to their boundaries, which was contirmed in the patent granted 
by Governor Dotigan on the 10th of September, 16S6. The 
boundaries mentioned in this instrument are as follows : 

" Beginning at the westernmost part of a certain place called Coney Island, and 
from thence to the westernmost part of Anthony Jansen and Robert Pennoyer's 
land ; and so from thence by New Utrecht fence, according to agreement, to the 
bounds of Flatbush, and from thence along John Ditmas his land unto tlie 
bounds of Flatlands, upon a line agreed upon between Flatlands and Gravesend, 
which from John Ditmas his land, runs to a certain bound stake, and from thence 
to a white-oak tree marked and standing near New-Utreoht wagon path, and so 
to the north-west corner of Albert the weaver's field, and so going to a certain 
marked white-oak tree that stands by the highway side in the Hollow, and from 
thence running along the Hollow to the head of a certain creek commonly called 
and known by the name of the Strome Kill, and along the said creek to the main 
Ocean, and so along the sea-side to the westernmost part of Coney Island." 

The patentees in this instrument are James Hubbard, 
John Tilton, jun., William Goulder, Nicholas Stillwell, and 
Jocham Guilock; and the quit-rent reserved was six bush- 
els of good winter merchantable u'heat, to be paid on the 20th 
day of March annually, for his Majesty's use, at the city of New- 
York, for ever. 

" At a court of Sessiofis held at Gravesend, June 21, 1676, 
John Cooke and John Tilton, being Quakers, and refusing to 
take the oath, were ordered to give their engagement to Mr. 
Justice Hubbard to perform their office as overseers, under the 
penalty of perjury," "At the same court, holden Dec. 17, 1679. 
Mr. Jos. Lee, deputy-sheriff, presented Ferdinandus Yan Strick- 
land for refusing to give entertainment to a stranger who came 
from Huntington about business at this court ; upon which the 



TOWN OF GRAVESEND. 445 

court do order, that if the said Ferdinandus does not make his 
submission to the sheriff and the justices to-morrow, that he 
be dismissed from tapping. It is beheved that many of the 
Friends who settled in this town removed to New Jersey at or 
about the time of the visit of George Fox to Long Island in 
the year 1672. 

Coney Island, on the sea-board, is a place of great resort 
for strangers in the summer season, is constantly fanned by 
cool sea breezes, and affords an unlimited view of the ocean. 
It is separated from Long Island by a narrow creek or inlet, 
over which a handsome bridge has been erected. A large and 
spacious hotel is established here, called the Ocean House, 
and hitherto conducted in a superior manner. A rail-road is 
attached to the establishment, with cars leaving the hotel for 
the beach, a distance of eighty rods, at particular intervals 
during the day. The bathing at this place is not surpassed 
by any in the United States. The beach is a beautiful white 
sand. T'he island is about five miles long and one wide, and 
is entirely of alluvial formation. The effect of severe ocean 
storms has lonof been visible here, and much of what was once 
Coney Island has disappeared. It has been conjectured by 
some persons that Coney Island proper, two hundred years 
ago, lay at the entrance of Sandy Hook, and separated from 
the present Coney Island by a channel of considerable 
width, which is supposed to have been entirely demolished 
by a storm about the year 1715. It is well ascertamed, 
that in 1643 there was a convenient harbor for vessels of 
a large size, which is now in a great measure filled up. 
The exposed situation of this island subjects it to the encroach- 
ments of the sea, and to be entirely destroyed at some future 
period. In the terrible gale which occurred upon the coast on 
the 26th of January, 1S39, the whole of this island, with the 
exception of a few sand-hills, was completely inundated by the 
sea ; the basement story of the Ocean House was filled with 
water ; the bridge was carried away, several small vessels cast 
upon the shore, and in one instance carried to a considerable 
distance toward Fladands. 

The first church built here was by the Dutch in 1655. It 



446 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

was rebuilt in 1770, and stood till 1833, when the present 
church was erected. It is located in the village of Gravesend, 
upon one of the original squares of tlie town-plot made by 
the first settlers, and near the place where the court-house 
formerly stood. Here the court of sessions was held till the 
Ridinofs were abolished in 16S5, after which it was removed to 
Flatbush. All the lands in this town were laid out in refer- 
ence to the village plan, the exterior lines of most of the farms 
convergino^ towards this centre like the radii of a circle. 
The soil of this town is light and sandy, yet it is generally 
well cultivated ; and the surplus produce of the farms is suppos- 
ed to exceed forty thousand bushels of different kinds of grain 
annually, which is a permanent mine of wealth and independ- 
ence to its inhabitants, their number being seven hundred. 

Ill many Dutch patents there was a clause requiring 
the patentees and their associates, after the expiration of ten 
years from the date thereof, to pay, by way of quit-rent, to 
the governor, or his agent lawfully authorized to receive the 
same, one tenth part of all the produce of the lands cultivated 
by the:n ; and as difficulties and disputes sometimes occurred 
in reference thereto, Governor Stuyvesaiit issued a preremptory 
order, on the 6th of June, 1656, prohibiting the inhabitants of 
Flatlands, Flatbush, and Brooklyn from removing their crops 
of grain from the fields until the tythes reserved by their patents 
had either been taken or commuted for. 

The following is a true copy of the commission issued by the 
governor to the magistrates of the several Dutch towns: 

" Fort Amsterdam, April 24, 1660. 

" Lovmg Priendes. 

" Out of the nomination -presented unto us we have maade 
choice, as you may knowe bee theese presents off Tunis Guis- 
hert, the which icee for the yearefoUowino-e doe conjirme and 
establish ffor magistraate off the towne called New-Amersforte, 
reqarringe all and every one ichome these may concerne to 
esteeme them as our elected and confirmed mag estraate ffor the 
towne, so after mee respects, I rest, your lovingefriende and 
Governor. 

"P. Stuyvesant." 



TOWxX OF FLATLANDS. 447 

Form of a Comtnission from Lieut. Governor Liesler. 

^^ By the Lieut. Gov. and commander in chiefe, 4'c. By 
virtue off the authoritie unto ?nee, I doe hereby authorise and 
empower you Jacobus Van De Water to be Clark and Regis- 
ter ff or Kings County^ giving you Jf nil power and authoritie 
to acte and officiate therein as a Clark may and ought to doe, 
aiiJ this commission to continue till I receive farther orders 
from his Magesty King William. Given under my hand 
and seal 20 off Dec. 1 6S9. 

" Jacob Liesler." 

TOWN OF FLATLAXDS. 

This town, called by the Dutch New Amersfort, is bounded 
northerly by Flatbush, southerly by Jamaica Bay, and westerly 
by Gravesend. Barren Island, situated upon the west side of 
Rockaway Inlet, and at the mouth of Jamaica Bay, is attached 
to this town, and the south part of the town is indented by 
numerous small bays. Along the shore of Jamaica Bay is an 
extensive salt-marsh, which yields abundance of hay of an 
inferior quality. With the exception of this marsh, there are 
no waste lands, the whole being divided into farms well culti- 
vated and productive. The settlement was commenced in 
1636, cotemporaneously with Gravesend ; and one of the first 
grants for land was that for Barren Island, which was at that 
time a great deal larger than at present, and was also covered 
with cedar and otlier timber. Tiie woods have lonij since 
disappeared, and much of the island is composed of sand-hills, 
affording but a scanty subsistence to a few cattle. Ex Gover- 
nor Van Twiller had a farm in this town at the lime of the 
first setilement, and called Van Twiller's Bowery for a long 
time after. The village of Flatlands is a very pretty spot, in 
the centre of which is the Dutch church, originally erected in 
1661, and has since been twice rebuilt. 

By the Duke's laws, passed in 1665 in relation to public officers, 
it was declared that the "Overseers shall be eight in number, 
men of good fame and life, chosen by the plurality of voyces of 
the freeholders in each town, whereof foure shall remain in 



44S HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

their office two years successively, and foure shall be changed 
for new ones every yeare ; which election shall preceed the 
election of constables, in point of time, in regard the constable 
for the yeare ensuing is to bee chosen out of that number which 
are dismist from their office of Overseer." — The following 
is a copy of the oath, administered to the overseers elect : 
" Whereas you are chosen and appointed an Overseer for the 
towne of fflatlands, you doe sweare by the Ever-Living-God,that 
you will ffaithfully and diligently discharge the trust reposed 
in you, in relation to the publique and towne affaires, accordinge 
to the present lawes established, without favoure, affection, or 
partiality to any person or cause which shall fall under your 
cognizance ; and at times, when you shall bee required by your 
superiors to attend the private differences of neighbors, you 
will endeavor to reconcile them : and in all causes conscien- 
tiously, and according to the best of your judgment, deliver your 
voyce in the towne meetings of constable and overseers. So 
help you God." It was the duty of the overseers, together with 
the constable, to hold Town Courts, for the trial of causes under 
five pounds. They, with the constable, were frequently to ad- 
monish the inhabitants " to instrvct their children and servants 
in matters of religion and the lawes of the country ; to ap- 
point an officer to record every man's particular marke, and 
see each man's horse and colt branded." The constable and 
two overseers were to pay the value of an Indian coat for each 
wolf killed ; and " cause the wolf's head to be nayled over the 
door of the constable, there to remaine ; as also to cut off both the 
ears, in token that the head is brought in and payd for." 

The custom of putting Dutch inscriptions upon tombstones, 
which was the general practice in former times, was continued 
as late as 1770 ; and some may be seen even of a much later 
date in many of the burying-grounds in this county. For 
the last fifty years the English language has been generally 
adopted in epitaphs and inscriptions. Many individuals, and 
even families, employ the Dutch language in their ordinary 
intercourse with each other at this day. 

An extraordinary interview took place on the 2d of April, 
1691j between the Governor of New- York and a Sachem of 



TOWN OF FLATLANDS. 449 

Long Island, attended by his two sons and twenty other In- 
dians. The Sachem, on being introduced, congratulated Go- 
vernor Slaughter, in an eloquent manner, upon his arrival, and 
claimed his friendship and protection for himself and his people ; 
observing also that he had, in his own mind, fancied his Excel- 
lency as a mighty tall tree, wit h wide, spreadi7ig hraiiches ; 
and therefore prayed leave to stoop under the shadow thereof. 
Of old (said he) the Indians were a great and tnighty people, 
but now they are reduced to a mere handful. He concluded 
his visit by presenting the governor with thirty fathoms of wam- 
pum, which he graciously accepted, and ordered the Sachem to 
attend him again in the afternoon. On taking leave, the young- 
est son of the Sachem handed to the officer in attendance a bun- 
dle of brooms, saying at the same time, " that as Leisler and his 
party had left the house very foul, he had been advised to bring 
the brooms with him for the purpose of making it clean again." 
In the afternoon the Sachem and his party again attended the 
governor, who made a speech to them, and on receiving a few 
presents, they departed. To exhibit the relative value of some 
kinds of property, the following is extracted from an in- 
ventory of the effects of a deceased person, which was taken 
December 16, 1719: A negro wench and child, valued at £60 ; 
while five milch cows, five calves, three young bulls, and two 
heifers, were valued together at £20 only. 

From the New-York Gazette of August 13, 1781. "On 
the nio-ht of the 4th inst. the crew of a rebel whale-boat from 
New Jersey landed near Flatlands on Long Island, and robbed 
the house of Col. Lott of about six hundred pounds, and car- 
ried off with them two of his slaves. They also robbed the 
house of Captain Lott of a considerable amount of specie." 

The surface of this town is, as its name indicates, a perfect 
level ; the soil, a light sandy loam, warm and pleasant to till ; 
and from the skill and industry of its farming population, 
yields a large amount over and above the wants of the inha- 
bitants. The people, generally, are conspicuous for habits of 
economy ; and modern fashions have not yet extinguished their 
love of simplicity and substantial comfort. The character of 
the inhabitants is tolerably well portrayed by the traveller, 

57 



450 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

James Stewart, when he says that "some of the farmers of 
Long Island are wealthy, bnt are, in general, contented to live 
comfortably and hospitably, with all the ordinary necessaries 
and conveniences of life, without ostentation or parade, and 
without seeming to care so mucii, as other classes of people in 
this country do, about money." To satisfy any doubts that 
may be entertained in regard to the prevalence of good order 
and morality in this and the adjoining towns, the compile? 
considers the following facts as affording pretty satisfactory 
evidence. Elias Hu]>bard, Esq. a respectable magistrate of this 
town, states that he has held the office of justice of the peace 
therein for more than twelve years, and in that period trans- 
acted mosl. of the judicial business for Flatlands, Flatbnsh, 
New Utrecht, and Gravesend ; and during the whole time had 
scarcely a dozen trials, and only two suits iu which a jury 
was demanded ; that another gentleman held the office of jus- 
tice in the town of Gravesend for eight years, who had, during 
that period, but one jury trial; and even in that one case the 
difference was compromised by the parties before the jury had 
delivered their verdict into court. Such a pacific temper is 
honorable to the people, and creditable to the government under 
which they live. 

It was upon Barren Island that the notorious pirate, 
Gibbs, and his associates in crime, secreted a portion of the 
money which they had plundered upon the high seas, part of 
which only was recovered. The names of the pirates were 
Charles Gibbs, Thomas Wansley, Robert Dawes, and John 
Brownrig. The last of whom saved his life by becoming a 
witness against his companions, who were convicted and exe- 
cuted upon Gibbet Island in the harbor of New- York, in the fall 
of 1S30. 

TOWN OP NEW UTRECHT. 

This town is bounded north by Brooklyn and Flatbush, east 
by Gravesend, and west and south by Gravesend Bay and the 
Narrows opposite Staten Island. It was settled in 1654 by 
about tv>reuty families from Holland, and a few Palatines ; who 



TOWN OF NEW UTRECHT. 451 

at first erected a "block-house, as well for security ao-ainst the 
natives as from the hordes of wandering savages, robbers, and 
pirates, which at that time, and for several years after, infested 
the country and adjacent coast to such a degree that the inter- 
position of the government became necessary for the more 
complete protection of the inhabitants, who, from their position, 
were peculiarly exposed to their predatory excursions. The 
population of this part of the country increased in a very 
moderate degree compared with other places in the vicinity, 
in consequence of the constant danger apprehended from the 
attacks of enemies ^ and the first steps taken to organize a se- 
parate community weis in 1660, when, on application to the 
governor, he appointed a scout or constable for the town, to- 
gether with a secretary or clerk, and mi assessor, with power to 
make a division among the inhabitants of the land held in 
common ; to cause the same to be enclosed and cultivated : to 
lay out a street or highway through the village ; to make 
arrangements for the erection of a place of defence, with a mill 
in it. and a well by it, at the common charge of the people ; to 
decide ditferences among individuals, and do as other subaltern 
village courts were accustomed to do. In 1662 a patent was 
obtained from Governor Stuyvesaiit, by which the inhabitants 
were not only confirmed in the several purchases and divisions 
of land already made, but were vested with the right of pre- 
emption of all the remaining lands not included in the patents 
previously granted to the adjoining towns. By this patent they 
were partially incorporated, with power to build a town, to 
elect magistrates subject to the approval of the governor, and to 
hold town courts for the trial of causes not exceeding in value 
five pounds. On the 15th of August, 1666, two years after 
the conquest of New- York, another patent or grant of confirma- 
tion was issued by Governor Richard Nicolls, in which the 
boundaries of the town are described as follows : 

" All that tract of land, together with the several parcels of land which 
already have been or hereafter shall be purchased or procured for or on behalf of 
tl»e said town, whether firom the native Indian preprietors or others, within tlie 
bounds and limits hereinafter set forth and exprest ; that is to say, the bounds of 
the said town begins Irom Nayack-Point, stretcliing alongsi the Bay to the land 
belonging to flfraucis Bruyin, and from thence run into the woods along the said 



452 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

ffrancis Bruyin's land to the land heretofore belonging to Robert Pennoyer, near 
upon a north-east line, twelve hundred Dutch rods; from which they goe again 
in a direct line to the North River,, running three hundred rod, to the north of the 
whole Hook or Neck of land ; and then again alongst the North River to Nay- 
ack-Point, comprehending within the said bounds or limits twenty lotts as they 
are now layd out.< 

The paucity of the records of this town, as well as the great 
difficulty of decyphering those that remain, render it impossible 
to obtain from them much information in relation to the early 
history of its inhabitants ; and the little we have been enabled 
to procure, has been derived from extraneous sources. 

It was off the shores of this town that the squadron under 
the command of Colonel Richard NicoUs, destined as the future 
English governor of New-York, anchored in 1664 ; and the 
first communication addressed to the Dutch governor bears 
date on board the ship Guyney, riding before Nayack, on the 
20th of August of that year. The place at that time known 
by this name, is near the present site of Fort Hamilton, 
and is a delightful place of residence ; being in sight of the 
ocean, it commands a full view of all the shipping leaving 
and entering the harbor of New- York, and steam-boats passing 
down the Bay. It has now become an important military 
station by the construction of a fort and batteries, and 
the maintenance of a considerable garrison for the defence 
of the harbor. Several handsome buildings have likewise 
been erected, and few situations can boast of a more sublime and 
beautiful prospect. A handsome Episcopal church, called St. 
John's, was built a few years since, and adds much to the 
appearance of the place. In 1836 a company was incorpo- 
rated for the purpose of making a rail-road from Brooklyn to 
Fort Hamilton, Bath, and Coney Island, which has not yet 
been undertaken, but which, if accomplished, would make each 
of them places of more extensive resort than heretofore. The 
village of A^eiw f/^rec/iHs pleasantly situated on a fine plain, 
nine miles south of Brooklyn, containing a Dutch Reformed 
Church, and about fifteen dwellings. This church was ori- 
ginally built in 1700, and was occupied during the revolution, 
as most of the other Dutch churches were, for a store, hospital, 
or prison, as suited the convenience of the enemy. The pre- 



TOWN OP NEW UTRECHT. 453 

sent church was erected nearly upon the site of the old one in 
1820. It is a substantial stone edifice, and an important 
feature in the general aspect of this delightful spot. Bath 
House and village is upon the margin of the Bay, a mile or 
two south-east from the Narrows or entrance of the harbor, in 
full view of the military works and the commerce of the Bay. 
It has for many years been a favorite place of resort for sea- 
bathing. Here is a large and well-kept public-house, with a 
lawn in front, beautifully shaded by trees, where the luxury 
of the ocean breezes may be enjoyed in their fullest extent 
during the heat of summer. It is the nearest watering-place 
to New- York, and new accommodations have recentlybeen erect- 
ed within a short distance of the beach, which commands a most 
charming prospect of the ocean. It was near this delightful 
spot that the British army, commanded by Sir William Howe, 
protected by the guns of their fleet, landed on the 22d of 
August, 1776, and followed, a few days after, by the disas- 
trous battle of Long Island. South . of the hills the surface 
of the town is perfectly smooth and level; but along the shore 
of the Narrows it is rough and uneven. The woody rido-e 
that borders the town is the western termination of the rano-e 
which extends to the eastern part of Southold, and is denominat- 
ed the ridge of a spine of Long Island. The shad-fishery of 
the town is one of the most important and valuable in this 
part of the country, in which many of the inhabitants eno-ao-e 
at the proper season, and find it a profitable employment. It is 
affirmed that ten thousand of these fish have been cauo-ht 
here at a single draught. On digging a few feet below the 
surface, some years ago, at the Narrows, more than a wao-on 
load of Indian stone arrow-heads were discovered lyino- toge- 
ther, under circumstances calculated to induce a belief that 
a large manufactory of that indispensable article of Indian 
warfare must once have existed at that place. They were of 
all sizes, and from one to six inches in length ; some perfect 
others partly finished ; together with blocks of the like kind of 
stone in the same condition as when brought from the quarry. 
They had the appearance of, and were nearly as hard as ordi- 
nary flint • from which not only arrow heads were formed, but 



454 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

axes and other articles of domestic utility. It must ever 
remain a matter of astonishment how these native artificers, 
destitute, as they were, of the knowledge or possession of 
tools of iron, could form and polish with such exquisite 
ajt so many various instruments from so hard a material. 

In the year 1663 one of the clergy of this town was accused 
before the court of sessions, of having performed the ceremony 
of his own 7narriage, and that, too, while he had another luife 
living. The reverend gentleman pleaded his own cause, and 
alleged, by way of excuse for so novel a procedure, that his first 
wife had eloped from him without cause ; and being minded to 
take another, he conceived he had as good a right to execute 
the ceremony for himself as for any other person. This 
mode of reasoning did not, it seems, satisfy the court. The 
marriage was declared void, and the delinquent was fined 
in two hundred guilders, forty beaver-skins ; and also forty 
guilders more for his insolence and impertinence to the court 
In addition to the patents before-mentioned, another was grant- 
ed by Governor Dongan on the 13th of May, 1686, of which 
the following is an extract : 

" Thomas Dongan, Lieut. Governor and Vice Admirall of New-Yorke and its 
dependencies under liis Majesty James the II, by the Grace of God of England, 
Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith, &c. Supreame Lord 
and proprieter of the Colony and Province of New-Yorke and its Dependencies in 
America, &c. To all whome this shall come, sendeth greeting. Whereas there 
is a certain Towne in King's County on Long-Island, commonly called and 
knowne by the name of New-Utrecht, Beginning at the North-East corner of the 
Land appurtaining to Mr. Paulus Vanderbeeck called Goanus to the Bounds of 
Flattbush Pattent, and soe along the said bounds of the said Pattent, and stretching 
from thence South-East and by South till they meete the Limitts of Flattlands, 
Gravesend, and the said Utrecht, and from tlience along Gravesend Bounds to the 
Bay of the North River, and soe along the said Bay and River till it meets the 
Land of the said Paulus Vanderbeeke as according to severall agreements and 
writeings and the pattent from Governor Richard NichoUs, dated in the year 1666. 
And whereas applicacon hath to mee been made by persons deputed from the 
aforesaid Towne of New-Utrecht for a confirmation of the aforesaid Tract of 
Land and premises; now Knowe Yee, that by Virtue of, &c. I have Given, Cran- 
ed, Ratified and Confirmed, and by these presents doe Give, Grant, Ratify and 
Confirme unto Jackues Corteljour, Ruth Joosten, John Verkerke, Hendrick Ma- 
thyse, Jolm Kiersen, John Vandyck, Guisbert Thyson, Carel Van Dyck, Jan 
Van Cleef,Cryn Jansen, Meyndert Coerten, John Hansen, Barent Joosten, Teunis 
Van Pell, Hendrick Van Pelt, Lawrence Janse, Gerrit Cornelisson, Dirk Van 
Stutphen, Thomas Tierkson, Gerrit Stoffelson, Peter Thyson, Anthony Van 



TOWN OF NEW UTRECHT. 455 

Pelt, Anthony Duchaine, Jan Vandeventer, and Cornells Wynhart, on Behalf of 
of themselves and their associates, the present Freeholders and Inhabitants of the 
said Towne of New Utrecht, their Heirs, Successors and Assigns; All and singu- 
lar, &c. To have and to hold the said Tract and parcell of Land with their 
and every of their appurtenances to them the said Jackues Corteljour, &c. — To 
bee holden of his said Majesty, his Heires and Successors in free and common 
Soccage, according to the Tenure of East Greenwich in the County of Kent in 
his MajestyesKingdome of England; Yeilding, Rendering, and paying therefor. 
Yearly and every year, on every five and twentyeth Day of March, foreever, six 
bushels of good Winter merchantable Wheate att thee Citty of New-Yorke, t&c. 
Given under my hand, and sealed with the scale of the Province att Fortt James, 
in New-Yorke, the 13th day^of May ,'168G, and in the 2hd yeareof his Majestyes 
Reigne, 



'b' 



******** 



" Thomas Dongan," * t a » 



* 

■» * 

■»**♦*** # 



" May it please your Honor, 

"jThe Atturny Generall hath perused this Paltent, and find's nothing con- 
tained therein prejudiciall to his Majestyes Interest. 

" Ja. Graham." 

In 1706 the negroes, who had become numerous both in the 
city of New- York and the adjoining country, were at times so 
disorderly and dangerous to the peace and safety of the people, 
that the government was compelled to take measures for re- 
straining their depredations upon the community. A proclama- 
tion was issued by the governor for this purpose in the words 
following : 

" Whereas I am informed that several negroes in King's County have assent- 
bled themselves in a riotous manner, which, if not prevented, may proveof ill con 
sequence; You, the Justices of the peace in the said county, are hereby required 
and commanded to take all proper methods for the seizing and apprehending all 
such negroes as shall be found to be assembled in such manner as aforesaid, or 
have run away or absconded from their masters or owners, whereby tl^re may 
be reason to suspect them of ill practices or designs ; and to secure them in safe 
custody ; and if any of them refuse to submit, then to fire upon them, kill or de- 
stroy them, if they cawwoit otherwise betaken ; and for so doing this shall be your 
sufficient warrant. Given under my hand, at Fort Anne, the 22nd day of July, 
170G. 

" CORNBURY." 

In the clerk's office is the copy of a proclamation issued on 
the 16th of June, 1780, by James Robinson, a British officer, 
styling himself captain-general and governor-in- chief in and 
over the province of New- York ; by which the inhabitants of 
Long Island are peremptorily required to furnish a sufficiency 



456 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

of wood for the barrack-yard in New- York ; that King's Coun- 
ty shall g^et fifteen hundred cords ; (Queen's County /ozir thou- 
sand five hundred ; and the western part of Suffolk County, in- 
cluding Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, and Brookhaven, three 
thousand cords ; all to be cut and carted to the landing by the 
15th of August next ensuing. And the inhabitants of Southold, 
Southampton, and Easthampton, were specially required to cut 
upon the wood-lands of William Smith and William Floyd, 
(notorious rebels,) in those parts nearest to the landing by Mas- 
tic-Neck, three thousand cords, to be ready by the 1st of Sep- 
tember; and for which they were to receive at the rate of ten 
shillings per cord. This requisition it was made highly penal 
to neglect, and those who did so were severely punished ; in- 
stances of which were not uncommon. 

On the 26th of May, 1 836, an act of the legislature Avas pass- 
ed to incorporate the New Utrecht Dock and Steam-Boat Com- 
pany, but as yet, it is believed, nothing has been done to carry 
this very desirable measure into operation. 

TOWN OF FLATBUSH. 

This town, called by the Dutch Midwout, or Middle Woods^ 
is bounded north by Brooklyn and Bush wick, and a small part 
of Q,ueen's County ; east by Jamaica ; south by Jamaica-Bay, 
Flatlands, and Gravesend ; and west by Gravesend ; being of 
an irregular shape, containing an area of about seven thou- 
sand acres, most of which is under cultivation. The settlement 
of this town was begun in 1651, and the next year a patent or 
ground-brief was obtained from Governor Stuyvesant, authoriz- 
ing the inhabitants to erect a town or plantation, with the usual 
privileges of other towns under the Dutch jurisdiction ; and un- 
der which the settlers managed their public concerns during the 
remainder of his administration. In October, 1667, application 
was made to Governor Nicol Is for a patent of confirmation and 
assurance of their lands and boundaries ; and on the 11th day of 
the same month one was issued unto Mr. Jonannes Megapalen- 
sis, one of the ministers of the city of New- York, Mr. Corne- 
lius Van Ruyven one of the justices of the peace, Adrian Hege- 



TOWN OP FLATBUSH. 457 

man, Jan Snedeger, Jan Stryker, Frans Barents, (Pastor,) Jacob 
Stryker, and Cornelius Janse Bougaert, as patentees for and 
on behalf of themselves and associates, the freeholders and in- 
habitants of the said town, their heirs, successors, and assigns, 
for the premises described therein, as follows : 

" All yt tract wt ye severall parcells of land wh already have or hereafter shall 
be purchased or procured for and on ye behalf of ye sd town; whether from ye 
native Indian proprietors or others, wt in the bounds and limits hereafter set 
forth and expresst ; That is to say, bounded to ye south by ye hills, and to the 
north by ye fence lately sett between them and the town of Amsfort, alias Flat- 
lands, beginning at a certain tree standing upon ye Little-Flats, marked by ye 
order and determination of severall arbitrators appointed by me, to view and 
issue ye difference between ye two towns concerning the same, wh accordingly 
they did upon the 17th of October, 1666, and to ye east and west by the common 
woodlands, including two tracts heretofore called by ye names of Curler's and 
Twillers flatts wh lye to ye East of ye town ; As also a parcell of meadow 
ground or valley on ye East-north-east side of Canaresse planting land, and hav- 
ing_to ye South ye meadow ground belonging to Amsfort als Flatbush, according 
to ye division made by an East line running half a point northerly between them 
without variation of ye Compass, and so to go to ye mouth of ye creek or Kill, 
which said meadows were on ye 20th of April last by common consent staked 
out and by my approbation allowed of." 

On the 12th of November, 1685, a further confirmatory pa- 
tent was executed by Governor Thomas Dongan to the follow- 
ing persons named therein as patentees : 

Corneleus Vanderwick, John Stryker, John Johnson, 

John Okie. John Ramsden, Petimus Lewis, 

Joseph Hegeman, Jacob Hendricks, Okie Johnson, 

Art Jansen Vanderbilt. Direck Vanderfleet, Jan. Jansen, 

Lafford Peterson, Hendrick Rick, William Jacoba, 

William Guiliamson, Peter Lott, Hendrick Hegeman, 

Hendrick Williams, Daniel Polhemus, Jan Stryker, 

Peter Guilliams, Cornelius Vanderveere, Garret Lubberts, 

Arien Ryers, Direck Johnson, Hans Bogaert. 

Peter Stryker, Hooglant Denise, 

The premises are in this patent described, as "A certain town in King's County 
known by the name of Middwout, alias Flatbush, the bounds whereof begin att 
the mouth of ye fress Kill, and soe along by a certain ditch which lyes betwixt 
Armsford and Flatbush meadows, and soe running alongst the ditch and fence 
• to a certain white oake markt tree ; and from thence uppon a straight line to the 
westernmost point of a small island of woodland lying before John Striker's 
bridge ; and from thence with a straight line to the north-west hooke or corner 
of the ditch of John Okie's meadow; and from thence alongst the said ditch and 
fence to the swamp of the Fresh-Kill, and soe alongst the swamp and hollow of 
the aforesaid Kill to the land ofKrewler's hooke; then alongst the same to a 

58 



458 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

marked white oak tree ; from thence with a straight line to a black-oake rnarkt 
Uee s andin. uppon the north-east s>de of T wUder's Fhuts havmg a small snip 
oTfl tts upo; the south-east side of the line, and soe from thence to a whue-oak 
tree standing to the west side of Mustahole upon a small island, kavn.g a snip 
of flatt: u/theFlataands bounds; ai^ from thence U. a -tain n,ai^ .ee or 
stump standing by the highway which goes to Flattlands upon the Liule Flatts 
about twenty rod from Flattbush Lot.s. and soe alongst the fence six hundred 
DrchToddro the corner of Flattbnsh fence, and soe alongst by the rear of the 
Lett o a sassafras stump standing in Cornelius Jansen's Bowery lott of land ; 
and rom thence with straight line to a certain old marked tree or stump standing 
bv the rush-pond under the hills, and so along upon the south side of the hdl 
till .t comes to the west end of the long Inll, and soe along upon the south side 
of the said h,U til! itt comes to the east end of the long hill ; and then with a 
straic^ht line from the east end of the said long lull to a mark'd whue-oake tree 
standing to the west side of the roade near the place called the gale or porte of 
hills an^d so from the east side of the porte or gale along upon the south side 
of the niame hills as far as Browkhn pattent doth extend and soe along the sa.d 
h Us to the bounds of Jamaica pattent ; and from thence with a southerly line t h 
Kill or creeke by the east of the Plunder's Neck, and soe alongst the said i.iil to 
thi sea as accordin-^ to the several deeds or purchases from the Indian owners, 
ttepa^^tfiomGovrrnor N.col.s, and the award between BrowkUne and the- 
town of Flattbush, as by reference thereto will fully and at large appear. 

On the 17th of December, 1654, Governor Stuyvesant, who 
seems to have exercised entire authority as well in ecclesiastical 
as in civil and military affairs, gave orders that a house ot pub- 
lic worship should be erected in this town, " sixty feet long, 
thirty-eight wide, and fourteen feet in height below the beams 
And on the 9th of Febrnar)^ 1655, he issued ius commands 
that the people of Brooklyn and Araersfort should assist the 
people of lAlidwout or Flatbush m getting timber for the house. 
In September, 1660, those who had the charge of the building 
reported that it had cost four thousand six hundred and thirty- 
seven guilders ; of which sum three thousand four hundred and 
thirty-seven had been collected in Ne^v Amsterdam, Fort 
Orange and on Long Island. Upon which the governor con- 
tributed out of the public funds four hundred guilders, leaving 
a balance of eight hundred Egainst the church. In June, 1656, 
the governor directed the inhabitants of Brooklyn, Flatbush, 
and Flatlands, to enclose a place in each of them with pali- 
sades for their common defence. In 1660 the Rev. Mr. 
Polhemus petitioned the governor to have a window placed m 
the church, which request was granted; and it bemg reported 
that the church was indebted to the amount of six hundred and 



TOWN OF FLATBUSH. 459 

twenty-four guilders, it was ordered to be satisfied out of the 
treasury as soon as funds should be received. Complaint 
being made that the minister was inattentive to his calling, 
attending only once di fortnight, and then only for a quarter oj 
an hour, giving the people a prayer instead of a sermon, the 
governor gave orders " that he should attend more diligcyitly 
to his work." October 1, 1673, an ordinance of the governor 
and council was published, enjoining it upon the sheriff and 
constables to take care that the reformed religion be maintained, 
to the exclusion of all other sects. It is supposed that the first 
Dutch church erected in this country was one built in the city 
of New Amsterdam in 1642, although a society had been 
organized as early as 1629. And the inhabitants of King's 
County attended religious worship in the city until the church 
was built in Flatbush as above-mentioned. The Rev. Eve- 
rardus Bogardus was the first minister, and officiated in the 
eity from 1638 to 1647 ; and was succeeded by the Rev. 
Johannis Megapolensis, who continued till the conquest in 1664. 
The latter gentleman, with John Snedicor and John Stryker, 
were the persons appointed to superintend the erection of the 
church here, which stood nearly on the site of the present 
Dutch church. It Avas directed to be in the form of a cross; 
and the rear part of the building was reserved and fitted up for 
the accommodation of the minister and his family. The 
original subscription list of this church is still preserved among 
its records, and shows the names of the inhabitants of the 
Dutch towns at that time. A church was ordered to be built 
at Flatlands in 1662, and completed the next year ; another 
was erected in Brooklyn in 1666, which, with the one in 
Flatbush, being associate churches, constituted but a single 
congregation, and were under the pastoral care of the same 
minister. The Rev. Johannis Polhemus was employed to 
preach soon after the erection of the church at Flatbush, with 
a salary of one thousand and forty guilders, (about four hun- 
dred and sixteen dollars,) a-year, raised by assessment upon the 
towns in which he officiated. He was required by the gover- 
nor, in March, 1656, to preach every Sunday morning at 
Midwout ; and in the afternoon, alternately at Amersfort and 



460 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

Brooklyn. In 1660 the Rev. Henericus Selwyn was installed 
at Brooklyn by order of the governor, at a salary of six hun- 
dred guilders a-year, one-half to be paid by the people, and the 
other half by Father-land or Holland. He resided in New 
Amsterdam ; and in 1662 the inhabitants of Brooklyn petitioned 
the governor that he should be required to reside among them. 
The governor agreed to pay a part of his salary, provided he 
should preach at the Bowery every Sunday evening. At the 
conquest he returned to Holland. Mr. Polhemus died June 9, 
1666. In 1667 the churches engaged the Rev. Casperus Van 
Zuren, who remained about the period of ten years, when he 
returned again to Europe. The Rev. James Clark was the 
next minister, who remained till 1 695 ; and was followed by 
the Rev. WilUain Ltipardus, who died in 1702. The Rev. 
Vicentius Antonides was settled in 1706, and continued till 
his death in 1714. His successor was tlie Rev. Bernardiis 
Freeman, who remained till the close of life in 1741. In 1742 
the church engaged the services of the Rev. Johannes Arondius^ 
but who, in 1747, removed to New Jersey. The Rev. Anthony 
Cartenius was settled as an associate minister in 1730, and 
remained till his death in 1750. The Rev. Ulpiayius Van 
Sinderen was employed in 1747, about which period much 
controversy arose in the churches touching the necessity of 
foreign ordination ; the opinion being entertained by great 
numbers, both clergy and laity, that ministers should be or- 
dained in Holland. This unhappy schism continued for several 
years to agitate the churches, to interrupt their peace, and 
retard their prosperity. These dissentions having much 
abated, the Rev. John Caspar Rubel was in 1760 employed 
as a colleague of Mr. Van Sinderen, but was, for some reason, 
deposed from the ministry in 1784. The death of Mr. Van 
Sinderen took place in 1796. The Rev. Martinus Schoon- 
maker was settled in 1785, and continued till his death at an 
advanced age in 1824, and with him terminated the practice of 
preaching occasionally in the Dutch language. The Rev. 
Peter Lowe became an associate minister of tlie churches in 
1787, where he remained to the end of his life in 1718, 
The church built here in 1663 stood, with occasional repairs, 



TOWN OF FLATBUSH. 461 

till 1717, when it was succeeded by another, built of stone. 
This building fronting the east, had a large double-arched door- 
way in the centre ; a steep quadrangular roof, with a small steeple 
rising from the middle. It was sixty-five by fifty feet, the pul- 
pit being in the west side. It was repaired and altered in 
1775, at an expense of more than seven hundred dollars ; but in 
1794 it was taken down, and the present large and commodious 
edifice erected, which cost about twelve thousand dollars. It 
was completed in December, 1796, with a fine bell, imported 
from Holland, and presented to the church by John Vanderbilt^ 
Esq. In 1818 the churches of Flatbush and Flatlands united 
in settling the Rev. Walter Monteilh, who removed in a 
short time thereafter; and in 1822 was settled their present 
highly respected clergyman, the Rev. Thomas M. Strong. In 
1824 a new congregation was organized, and a church erect- 
ed in the eastern part of the town, called New-Lotts, from 
the circumstance of the land having been divided or allotted 
among the inhabitants at a later period than some other sec- 
tions of the town. The soil is generally of a good quality, 
and by careful cultivation is made highly productive. The 
village of Flatbush, situated about four miles from the City 
Hall of New- York, is hardly excelled by any other as a 
place of residence. The spirit of improvement has reached 
this delightful spot, and several splendid private edifices have 
been erected, bearing all the insignia of taste and opulence. A 
softer or more agreeable landscape than is here presented, is 
seldom met with. Its surface is an inclined plane, elevated 
about fifty feet above the ocean, toward which the descent is 
regular and gradual. ' The court-house of the county was 
erected here in 1685, and the courts continued to be held there- 
in till it was destroyed by fire in 1832. iSt. Paul's Episcopal 
Church in the village was built in 1836, mainly by the libera- 
lity and munificence of one of its citizens, Matthew Clarkson, 
Esq., and is a neat and handsome edifice. Erasmus- Hall, 
a noble accademical institution here, was incorporated No- 
vember 20, 1787, being the second in point of time upon 
Long Island. It has always maintained a high reputation as a 
place of education, and its pupils are diffused over almost 

\ 



462 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

every part of the United States. The building is not only- 
spacious and airy, but replete with every convenience, hav- 
insr sufficient errounds about it, filled with ornamental trees 
and shrubbery. A little north of the village is an elevation, 
called Prospect-Hill, which is estimated to be one hundred feet 
above the surrounding country, and from whose summit the 
view is sublime and beautiful beyond description. 

The Poor-House of the County of Kings is located a short 
distance from the village. The farm contains sixty acres of 
excellent land, which cost three thousand dollars. The main 
building is forty-four feet square, with two wings, each sixty 
by thirty-five feet. The whole is two stories in height. There 
is also a building detached from the^e, appropriated for patients 
laboring under infectious diseases ; and likewise another for de- 
ranged persons, where these unfortunate individuals are treat- 
ed with the attention which humanity requires. Surely this 
benign establishment does honor to the county, and deserves 
the imitation of every other in the state. The soil of this town 
is inferior to none other, and improved in the highest degree, 
furnishing to the markets of Brooklyn and New- York a 
large quantity of produce. Many of the farmers are wealthy, 
and there is an appearance of independence and opulence 
seldom witnessed in many other places. 

TOWN OF RROOKLYN. 

This town, the whole of which is now included within the 
corporation of the city of Brooklyn, lies upon the extreme west- 
ern part of Long Island, opposite the southern portion of the 
city of New- York, and separated therefrom by the East River, 
which is here about three quarters of a mile in width. The 
length from north-east to south-west is six miles, and its great- 
est breadth four miles ; giving an area of nine thousand two 
hundred acres, most of which has been apportioned into city 
lots. The surface is high, broken and stony ; and the more 
elevated points afford beautiful and romantic sites, many of 
which have been built upon, and are not excelled in elegance 
by any others in the country. The soil, in common with the whole 



TOWN OF BROOKLYN. 463 

county, was originally claimed by the Canarsee Indians, a nu- 
merous tribe, inhabitino; chiefly the more southern parts of the 
county, and from whom the title to the lands was procured by the 
Dutch s:overnment. The situation of this tribe rendered them 
peculiarly obnoxious to invasion from their savage neighbors 
of the north, and it has been supposed that they were once tri- 
butary to the Mohawks, and obliged to conciliate their forbear- 
ance by yearly contributions of dried clams and wampum. At 
the first settlement of the white people, the Indians were per- 
suaded to withhold the accustomed tribute, being promised 
protection from these unjust exactions of their enemies ; in con- 
sequence of which they were unexpectedly assailed by a hos- 
tile force, and numbers of them destroyed or taken captive. 

The name conferred upon this town by the Dutch was 
Breucklen, (or broken land ;) and in the act for dividing the 
province into counties and towns, passed November 1, 1685, it 
is called Breucklyn ; nor does the present appellation appear 
to have been generally adopted until after the Revolution. 
Many changes have doubtless taken place upon the shore, 
and it is beheved that Governor's Island was formerly connect- 
ed with Red Hook Point. It is well known that a short period 
previous to the war of independence, cattle were driven across 
what is called Buttermilk Channel, now sufficiently deep 
to afford passage to vessels of the largest class. The alteration 
is no doubt in grreat measure attributable to the vast extension 
of the wharves on both sides of the river, thereby diverting 
the course, and increasing the force of the currents. The first 
European settler in this town is supposed to have been George 
Jansen de Rapelje, at the Waalboght, or Waaloons Bay, during 
the Directorship of Peter Minuit, under the charter of the West 
India Company. In a family record in the possession of Jere- 
miah Johnson, Esq., it is stated that the first child of Rapelje 
was Sarah, born in 1625, unquestionably the first white 
child born upon Long Island. Watson says she was born on 
the 9th of June, and honored as the first-born child of the 
Dutch settlers ; also that, in consideration of such distinction, 
and of her widowhood, she was afterwards presented with a 
tract of land at the Wallabout. She was twice married ; first 



464 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

to Hans Hanse-Bergen, by whom she had six children, name- 
ly. Michael Hanse. Joris Hanse, Jan Hanse, Jacob Hanse, 
Breckje Hanse, and Marytje Hanse. Her second husband 
was Tennis Gnisbertse Bogart, by whom also she had six chil- 
dren, namely, Anrtie, Anfje, Neelje, Aul/je, Catalyntje, and 
Guyshert. The account of this remarkable woman in the 
archives of the New- York Historical Society contains the 
names of the persons to whom eleven of her children were 
married, and the places where they settled. The twelfth, 
Breckje Hanse, went to Holland. In the journal of the Dutch 
Council in 1656, it is related that " the widow Hans Hanson, 
the first-born Christian daughter in New Netherlands, burden- 
ed with seven children, petitions for a grant of a piece of mea- 
dow, in addition to the twenty morgen granted to her at the 
"Waale-Boght." There is a tradition in the family, that the In- 
dians, induced by the circumstance of her being the first white 
child born Iiere, gave to her father and his brethren, the other 
French who followed them, the lands adjacent to the bay ; 
hence called (says Judge Benson) Het- WaaU-Boght^conw'^ied 
to Wallabout Bay. A few of the other associates of De Ra- 
pelje were Le Escuyer, Diiryee, La Sillier, Cershotc, Con- 
scillaer. Musserol : these, with some changes in the mode of 
spelling, are still found among us. It appears by the Dutch 
records, that in 1634 a part of the land at Red-Hook was the 
property of Wouter Van Twiller, being one of the oldest titles 
in the town. The earliest deed for land was from Governor 
Kieft to Abraham Rycken, in 163S. The oldest grant record- 
ed is to Thomas Besker in 1639. This must be considered as 
the commencement of permanent Dutch settlements on Long 
Island, and there is no evidence of any direct and systematic 
efibrts being made for the purpose till this period. In 1641 
the governor and council, in order to strengthen their claim to 
the island, consented that the English should settle under their 
jurisdiction on taking the oath of allegiance to the States- Ge- 
neral and the Dutch West India Company. The following 
grant for land in 1642 is given as a specimen of conveyances 
at that remote period : 



TOWN OP BROOKLYN. 465 

" By William Kieft, Director General and Counsellor, about the liio-h and 
mighty Lords, the States General of the United Low Country, and his highness 
of Orange, and the Lords Commanders of the privileged West India Company 
residing in the New-Netherland, do ratify and declare by these presents, that we 
upon the date hereinafter written, did give and grant to Jan Manje, a piece of 
land, greatly twenty morgan stretching about south-east one hundred and ninety 
rods inward the woods towards to Sassians maise land — long is the limits of the 
said maise land fifty rod,' and then again to the water side, two hundred and 
twenty rod, about north north-west, well so northerly and along the strand or 
■water side, seventy rod. Which above-said land is lying upon Long Island, be- 
tween Andries Hudde and Claes Janse Ruyter. With express conditions, &c. 
Dated at Port Amsterdam, in the New-Netherland, the llth day of September, 
1642. 

" WILLIAM KIEFT. 
" By order of the Lord the Director General, and Counsellor of New-Nether- 
land. 

" Cornelius Vantienhoven, Sec'ry." 

Between the years 1642 and 1647 grants were made by his 
Excellency Governor Kieft, to different individuals for all the 
lands on the Brooklyn shore, from Red-Hook Point to the Wall- 
about Bay, which were generally in the above form. It is be- 
lieved that a general patent of the town was granted by Gover- 
nor Stuyvesant in 1657, the same being frequently referred to 
in conveyances between individuals at an after-period, and is 
evident from the following extract from the records : " August 
\Othj 1695. The patentees and freeholders of the town sold 
unto Stephanus Van Cortlandt the ?ieck of land called Red- 
Hook, containing; hy estimation, fifty acres ; lohich they state 
in their deed ivas forrnerly given and granted to the town of 
Broocklyn i?i the year 1657, by Governor Stimjvesant, the 
Dutch governor, then, at that time, and since confirmed hy 
the English governors, Nicolls and Dongan.''^ On the 18th 
of October, 1667, a full and ample patent was granted by Go- 
vernor Richard Nicolls to Jan Everts, Jan Damen, Albert Cor- 
nelisson, Paulus Veerbeeck, Michael Eneyl, Thomas Lamberts, 
Tennis Guisbert Bogart, and Joris Jacobson, as patentees for 
and on behalf of themselves and their associates, the freeholders 
and inhabitants of the town of Breucklen, their heirs, succes- 
sors and assigns, for " all that tract, together with the several 
parcels of land which already have been or hereafter shall be 
purchased procured for and on behalf of the said town, whether 

59 



466 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

from the native Indian proprietoi-s,or others, within the bounds 
and limits hereafter set forth and expressed ; that is to say : 

" The town is bouudeJ westward on the farther side of the land of Mr. Paulas 
Veerbeck, from whence stretching south-east, they go over the hills, and so east- 
ward along the said hills to a south-east point which takes in all the lotts behind 
the swamp; from which said lotts they run north-west to the river and extend to 
the farm on the t'other side of the hill heretofore belonging to Hans Hansen, 
over ajainst the Kicke or Looke^out, including within the said bounds and 
limitts all the lotts and plantations lying and being at the Gowanis, Bedford, 
Wall iboucht, and the Ferry. All which .said parcels and tracts of land and 
premises within the bounds and limitts aforementioned, described, and all or any 
plantation or plantations thereupon, from henceforth are to bee, appcrtaine and 
belong to the said town of Breucklen ; together with all havens, harbors, creeks, 
quarryes, wood-land, meadow-ground, reed-land, or valley of all sorts, pastures, 
marshes, runs, rivers, lakes, hunting, fishing, hawking, and fowling, and all 
other profitts. commodities, emoluments, and hereditaments, to the said lands and 
premises within the bounds and limitts at'oresaid belonging, or in any wise apper- 
taining. And withal to have freedome of commonage for range and feed of cattle 
and horse into tlie woods, as well without as within these bounds and limitts, 
■with the rest of their neighbors; as also one-third part of a certain neck of 
meadow-ground or valley called Seller's Neck, lying and being within the lim- 
itts of the town of Jamaica, purchased by the said town of Jamaica from the 
Indians, and sold by them unto the inhabitants ol Breucklen aforesaid, as it has 
lately been laid out and divided by their mutual consent and my order, whereunto 
and from which they are likewise to have free egress and regress as their occa- 
sions may require. And that the place of their present habitation shall continue 
and retain the name of Breucklen, by which name and stile it shall be distin- 
guished and known in all bargains and sales made by them, the said patentees, 
and their associates, their heirs, successors, arid assigns, rendering and paying 
such duties and acknowledgments as now are or hereafter shall be constituted and 
established by the laws of this government, under the obedience of liis Royal 
Highness, his heirs and siiccessors. Given under my hand and seal at Fort 
JameSj in New-York, on the Island of Manhattat, the 18th of October, 1667. 

" Richard Nicolls." J t c. * 
JL.. S. J 

******* 

In 1670 the inhabitants, being desirous of enlarging the 
bounds of their common lands by extinguishing the Indian 
claim, applied to Governor Lovelace, and obtained from him 
the following license : 

*^c****** " Whereas, the inhabitants of Breucklyn, in the West Riding of 

J L. S. J Yorkshire, upon Long Island, who were seated there in a township 

******** by the authority then in being; and having bin at considerable 

charges in clearing, ffencing, and manuring their land, as well as building ffor 

their conveniency ; have requested my lycense for their further security, to malse 



TOWN OP BROOKLYN. 467 

purchase of the said land of some Indians, who lay claim and interest therein. 
These are to certify all whom it may concerne, that I have and doe hereby give 
the said inhabitants lycense to purchase their land according to their request, 
the said Indians concerned appearing before me, as in the law is required, and 
making their acknowledgments as to fully satisfyed and payed for the same. 
Given under my hand and seal at ffort James, in ISew-YoiJu;, ihib ffirst of May, 
in the 22d yeare of his Misijestyies reigne, Anno Dom. 1670. 

" FnANCta Lovelace." 

This purchase had been agreed upon the 14th of May, 1670, 
between the town and five Indian chiefs, and is described in 
the conveyance as " all that parcell of land in and about 
Bedford^ within the jurisdiction of Brfiucklyn, beginning 
ffrom, Hendrick Van Aarnheni's land by a swantjte of water ^ 
and stretching to the hills ; then going along the hills to 
the port or entrance thereof and so to Jiockav^ay foot-path, as 
their purchase is more particularly sett fforth. To have 
and to hold all the said parcell and tract of land unto Mon- 
sieur Machiell Haimelle, llinmas Lamhertse, John Lewis, 
and Peter Darmantier, ffor and on behalf e of the inhabitants 
aforesaid, their heyres and successors for everP The port or 
entrance mentioned in this instrument is tlie valley upon the 
Flatbush Turnpike, a short distance beyond the three-mile post 
from Brooklyn Ferry, where a freestone monument has been 
placed to designate the line between this town and Flatbush. 
The price paid for the land in and about Bedford was one hun- 
dred guilders seawant, half a ton of strong beer, two tons of 
good beer, three guns, long barrels, with each a pound of 
powder, and lead proportionable, two bars to a gun, and four 
match coats. 

Notwithstanding the early inhabitants of this town had pre- 
viously obtained patents for their lands both from the Dutch 
and English governors, yet Col. Thomas Dongan, who suc- 
ceeded to that office in 1683, had the address to make them 
believe that a new patent was necessary to confirm and assure 
their lands. Accordingly, on the 13th of May, 1686, a new 
patent was issued, which, after reciting the boundaries of the 
town as described in former grants, with reference to the 
charter of Governor Nicolls in 1667, the powers and privileges 
of which are recognized to the fullest extent, concludes in the 
following words: 



468 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

" Now know ye, that I, the said Thomas Dongan, by virtue of the commis- 
sion and authority derived from me, and power in me residing, have granted, 
ratified and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, ratifie and confirm, unto 
Teunis Gysberts, Thomas Lamberts, Peter Jansen, Jacobus Vander Water, Jaa 
Dame, Joris Jacobs, Jeronimus Rapalle, Daniel Rapalle, Jan Jansen, Adrian 
Bennet, and Michael Hanse, for and on tlie behalf of themselves and the rest of 
the present freeholders and inhabitants of the said town of Breucklen, their heirs 
and assigns for ever, all and singular the afore-recited tract and parcels of land 
set forth, limited and bounded as aforesaid ; together with all and singular the 
houses, messuages, tenements, fencings, buildings, gardens, orchards, trees, 
woods, underwoods, pastures, feedings, common of pasture, meadows, marshes, 
lakes, ponds, creeks, harbors, rivers, rivulets, brooks, streams, highways and 
easements whatsoever, belonging or in any wise appertaining to any of the 
afore-recited tract or parcells of land and divisions, allotments, settlements made 
and appi-opriated before the day and date hereof. To Have and To Hold, all 
and singular, the said tract or parcels of land and premises, with their, and 
every of their appurtenances, unto the said Teunis Gysberts, Thomas Lamberts, 
Peter Jansen, Jacobus Vander Water, Joris Jacobs, Jeronimus Rappalle, Daniel 
Rappalle, Jan Jansen, Adrian Bennet, and Michael Hanse, for and on behalf of 
themselves and the present freeholders and inhabitants of the town of Breucklen, 
their and every of their iieirs and assigns for ever, as tenants in common without 
any let, hindrance, molestation, right of sui-vivorship or otherwise, to be holden in 
free and common socage according to the tenure of East Greenwich, in the coun- 
ty of Kent, in his Majesty's kingdom of England. Yielding, rendering, and pay- 
ing therefor yearly, and every year, on the five and twentyeth day of March, 
for ever, in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever, as a quit rent to his most 
sacred Majesty aforesaid, his heirs and successors, at the city of New-Yofk, 
twenty bushels of good merchantable wheat. In testimony whereof, I have caus- 
ed these presents to be entered and recorded in the Secretary's office, and the seal 
of the Province to be hereunto affixed this thirteenth day of May, Anno Domini, 
one thousand six hundred and eighty-six, and in the second year of his Majesty's 
reign, 

"THOMAS DONGAN." 

Under this and other patents considerable sums have been 
paid at different times for quit-rents, for which receipts have 
been preserved. June 8, 1713, there was paid to Benjamin 
Vandewater, treasurer, the sum of £96 7s Id, for upwards 
of sixteen years quit-rent. April 6, 1775, Charles Debevoice, 
collector of the town, paid to the receiver-general of the co- 
lony, twenty bushels of wheat for one year's quit-rent ; and, 
November 9, 1786, Fernandus Suydam and Charles C. Dough- 
ty, two of the trustees, paid to the treasurer of the state, j£105 
10s. in full for arrears of quit-rent due from the town. During 
the early years of the colony, the old ferry was from near the 
foot of Jerolemon Street to the Breede-Graft, now Broad Street, 



TOWN OF BROOKLYN. 469 

in the city of New- York ; but it is difficult to ascertain the 
exact period when the old ferry was first established at its pre. 
sent situation on the Brooklyn side. It appears that, in 1693 
John Areson, the lessee of the ferry, complained of his inability 
to pay the rent of £147, and it was reduced to £140. At this 
time the ferriage for every single person was eight stivers in 
wampum, or a silver two-pence ; each person in company half 
the above ; and if after sunset, double price ; each horse or 
beast one shilling if single, or nine pence in company. In 
1698 Rip Van Dam was lessee of the ferry for seven years at 
£165 per annum. During the Revolution the old ferry was 
kept by Van Winkle and Bukett, when the usual charge for 
crossing was sixpence. The corporation of the city of New- 
York has long claimed and exercised the control of the ferry, 
which has produced a considerable revenue. August 1, 1795, 
the ferry from the foot of Main Street was established by 
William Furman and Theodosius Hunt, on a lease from the cor- 
poration of New- York. In May, 1814, the first steam-boat com- 
menced running upon the Fulton Ferry, and at a later period 
upon the other ferries also. 

The town having acquired so great an extent of common 
land by the purchase of 1670 from the Indians, the inhabitants 
thought proper to take some order for the division and defending 
thereof, together with their other lands ; accordingly, " At a 
town meeting held on the 25th day of February, 169| at 
Breuklyn, in King's County. They Resolved to divide their 
common lands and woods into three parts, in manner follow- 
ing, to witt : 

" 1. All the lands and woods after Bedford and Cripplebush, 
over the hills to the path of Newlotts, shall belong to the inha- 
bitants and freeholders of the town of Gowanis, beginning from 
Jacob Brewer and soe to the uttermost bounds of the limits of 
Nevv-Utrectht. 

" 2, And all the lands and woods that lyes betwixt the above- 
said path and the highway from the ferry towards Flattbush, 
shall belong- to the freeholders and inhabitants of Bedford and 
Cripplebush. 

" 3. And all the lands that lyes in common after the Gowanis, 



470 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

betwixt the limits and bounds of Flattbush and New-Utrecht, 
shall belong to the freeholders and inhabitants of Brooklyn, 
fred. neck, the ferry and the Wallabout." This proceeding of 
the town meeting was allowed of by the court of sessions, 
held at Flatbush on the 10th day of May, 1693. 

The following will serve to show the manner in which the 
inhabitants of this town elected the trustees of their common 
lands, and the duties of those trustees. " Att a towne meeting 
held this 29th day off Aprill, 1699, at Breucklyn, by order off 
Justice Machiel Hanssen, ffor to chose townsmen fFor to order 
all townes busines and to deffend theire limitts and bounds, and 
to dispose and lay out sum part thereoff in lotts, to make lawes 
and orders ffor the best off the inhabitants, and to raise a small 
tax ffor to defray the towne charges, now being or hereaffter to 
come, to receive townes revenues, and to pay townes debts ; and 
that with the advice off the Justices off this said towne stand- 
ing the space and time off two years. Chosen ffor that purpose 
by pluralitie off votes. Benjamin Van de Water, Joores Hans- 
sen, Jan Garretse Dorlant. By order of the inhabitants affore- 
said. 1. Vande Water, Clarke." 

Although it may not be generally known, yet it is true that 
the records of this town, from its first settlement to the end of 
Revolutionary war, were either destroyed during the contest 
between Britain and her colonies, or carried off at its close by 
some evil-disposed individual. The person suspected is John 
Rapalje, Esq., who was in authority here during that pe- 
riod, and against whom an act of attainder was passed in Octo- 
tober, 1777, by which his large real estate was confiscated, and 
himself forced to depart from the country. The necessary 
consequence is, that we have been deprived of many valuable 
materials toward a history of the town. It might be expected, 
that in a state of hostility, every measure would be adopted 
to afflict an enemy; yet it may be questioned whether ab- 
stracting the records of a country is strictly justifiable by the 
customs and usages of civilized warfare. 

The hope is still entertained that these important docu- 
ments are still in existence, and that by proper exertions they 
may yet be found in some of the public offices in England. 



TOWN OP BROOKLYN. 471 

Some facts of recent occurrence corroborate this opinion, 
and a correspondence was set on foot a few years since, 
between General Jeremiah Johnson, supervisor of the town, 
and Governor De Witt CUnton, which led to examinations in 
one or more places in London, where it was supposed they 
might chance to be deposited ; but nothing satisfactory was 
elicited. The subject matter of this correspondence is thought 
sufficiently important to justify its insertion in this place. 

General Johnson to Governor Clinton. 

Albany, April H, 1827. 
Sir: 

I visited this city, in December last, for the purpose of examining the Dutch 
records and public papers in the secretary's office, particularly the Dutch patents 
of the towns of Brooklyn, Flatbush, Flatlands, and Jamaica ; and not finding 
them, the search was continued among the English records to the year 1G84, 
wherein I found that in that year the governor and council of the colony issued 
an order commanding all the inhabitants of the Dutch towns in the provinces of 
New-York and New Jersey to bring their Dutch patents and Indian deeds into 
the Secretary's office in New- York. This measure, in my opinion, accounts for 
the absence of many papers supposed to be lost. Subsequent to my search in 
the office in 1826, I had been informed that many old papers relating to this state 
are in the colonial office in London. And, as the records of the town of Brooklyn 
■were removed during the revolutionary war, I entertain a hope that we may 
regain them. This information is presented to your Excellency in the expecta- 
tion that inquiry may be made in London whether the papers alluded to, 
or authenticated copies, cannot be obtained. The recovery of the records of 
the town would be of great importance, and the patents and Indian deeds serve 
to improve the history of the town. 

Yours, respectfully, 

Jeremiah Johnson, Supervisor. 

His Excellency, Governor Clinton. 

Governor Clinton to Albert Gallatin, Esq, 

Albany, I2th May, 1827. 
Sir: 

I take the liberty of transmitting to you a letter from General Johnson, a 
respectable citizen of this state, and of requesting your attention to it. Accord- 
ing to a report made at the last session of congress, there will be no difficulty on 
the part of the British government. The papers wanted may be found in the 
former plantation office. Yours, &c. 

De Witt Clinton. 
Albert Gallatin, Esq. 

Mr. Gallatin to Governor Clinton. 

London, 25th August, 1827. 
Sir: 
I had the honor to receive your Excellency's letter of the 12th May last, enclos- 



472 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

ing one from General Johnson, and requesting that application might be made 
to this government for certain town records, and other papers therein-mentioned 
as having been carried away, and being now either in the colonial office, or that 
of trade and plantations in London. 1 regret to say, that after diligent inquiry, 
and although the various departments here were anxious for the restoration of 
the papers if they could be found, there is no trace of them whatever. There 
are two depositcs for records and documents connected with the colonies ; the 
office of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and the State Paper office, where the 
records and papers of the colonial, as well as the home and foreign departments, 
are kept. There is nothing in the colonial office ; and you will perceive by the 
enclosed letters, that nothing was found in the others ; and that it is believed the 
papers in question were carried away by individuals who never deposited them 
in any office. Mr. Charles Grant, the writer of two of the notes, is the vice- 
president of the board of trade, one of the commissioners appointed to treat 
with me, a gentleman of distinguished merit and obliging disposition. Another 
search may nevertheless be made, if Gen. Johnson will state the time when the 
records were carried away, and other circumstances, which may afford a cue to 
the inquiry. 

I have the honor to be, &c. 

Albert Gallatin. 
His Excellency, De Witt Clinton. 

Charles Grant, Esq. to Mr. Gallatin. 

London, August 14, 1827. 
Dear Sir: 
1 have only this morning received the enclosed from Mr. Rice, whose absence 
from town prevented his sooner transmitting it to me. I regret much the result. 
As a last hope, I have sent Governor Clinton's letter to the colonial office, that 
inquiries may be made; but I fear there is little probability of success. 

I am, Sir, &c. 

;C. Grant. 
A. Gallatin, Esq. 

Spring Rice, Esq. to Charles Grant, Esq. ] 
My Dear Grant : 
On coming down to the office this morning, I found the enclosed, which relates 
to your communication with me. 1 enclose it as the best means of answering 
Mr. Gallatin's request, regretting that we cannot do more to furnish you with the 
information requested. 

Ever and most truly yours, 

Spring Rice. 

Judge Furman, in speaking of the history of this town, ob- 
serves, " that its great antiquity is apparent from the fact that 
the Enghsh colonists, who came out from Holland for professed 
purposes of settlement, were those brought out in 1623, only 
two years before the settlement of Brooklyn, in the ship of Capt, 



TOWN OF BROOKLYN. 473 

Komelis Jacobse Mey ; and that soon after two ships of the 
West India company brought, as ao-riculturists, the Walloons, 
who settled in Brooklyn." In 1646 the town was permitted 
to choose two magistrates, who were authorized ^'■to give 
judgment in all events as they should deem jiToper, not con- 
trary to the charter of New- Netherlands f^ and, to give com- 
plete effect to their authority, the governor ordered that if any 
one disobeyed the decision of the magistrates, he should forfeit 
his right to the lands within the village. This privilege seems 
not to have been extended to any other town, probably because 
no other was at that time so populous as to require it. 

The first public officer appointed by the Dutch government 
for this town after its settlement in 1625, was a ^^ super intend- 
ant^'' whose duties were to preserve the peace and regulate the 
police of the town. A few years after the office of superintend- 
ant was abolished, and the offices of schout, secretary, and 
assessor, created. These were, like others, appointed by the 
governor. 

The inhabitants suffering very much under the arbitrary 
exercise of power on the part of the government, frequently 
remonstrated against the same. Finally, a convention of dele- 
gates from this, and the other towns under the Dutch govern- 
ment, assembled at New Amsterdam, November 26th, 1663, on 
an invitation from the governor ; where they, on the 1 Ith of 
December following, entered into a remonstrance against the 
exclusion of the people from any share in legislation, and 
generally against their mode of government. The governor 
and his council sent them no answer, but entered one on the 
minutes, in which they denied the right of this town. Flat- 
bush, and Flatlands, to send deputies ; and protested against the 
meeting, notwithstanding the same was held at the governor's 
request. Entertaining a just sense of the responsibility attached 
to them, the deputies made another, but ineffectual attempt, to 
obtain a recognition of their rights; and on the 13th of the 
aforesaid month presented another remonstrance, in which 
they declared, " that if they could not obtain them from the 
governor and council, they would be under the necessity of 
appealing to their superiors, the States-general.'' The gover- 

60 



474 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

nor, in a fit of anger, dissolved their meeting, ai;d sent them 
home. 

In order to secure the settlement against the depredations of 
the Indians, the governor, in 1660, required the inhabitants to 
fortity the town, and remove their families within the enclo- 
sure, constructed of pahsadoes, set close together and made 
sharp at the top. This order was probably in consequence of 
threatened hostility from the northern Indions, who had in 
1655 made a descent upon Staten Island, and massacred sixty- 
seven persons ; and the settlement of Gravesend was only saved 
by the timely arrival of soldiers from New Amsterdam. 

It seems to have been enjoined upon the overseers and con- 
stables to admonish the inhabitants to instruct their children 
and servants in matters of religion and the laws of the country. 
They likewise appointed an officer to record every man's par- 
ticular mark, and see each mans horse and colt branded. 
They were to pay the value of an Indian coat for killing a 
wolf, whose head was to be nailed over the door of the consta- 
ble. In October, 1675, an order was passed by the court of 
assize that a fair or market should be yearly kept near the 
ferry, for the sale of grain, cattle, or other produce of the coun- 
try ; to be held the first Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in 
November ; and in the city of New-York the Thursday, 
Friday, and Saturday following. Although the population of 
this town has augmented every year since its settlement, yet, 
previous to the incorporation of the village in 1S16, the in- 
crease was far from what it has been since ; and within the last 
fifteen years the accession in number and wealth has been 
greater than for the preceding hundred years. In 1706 the 
real and personal estate in the town was valued only at 
£3,112, the tax thereon £41. In 1S24 the valuation was over 
two million six hundred thousand dollars, and the taxes 
between six and seven thousand. In 1S34 the valuation in 
the city of Brooklyn alone was $7,257,473. 

The controversies which have heretofore existed between 
this town and the corporation of the city of New- York iu 
relation to the ferry across the East River, and the claim of 
the latter to the soil below high water-mark along the Brooklyn 



TOWN OP BROOKLYN. 475 

shore ; and also concerning the title of the United States to a 
valuable tract of land at the Wallabout, are of tlie hiorhest im- 
portance to the inhabitants ; but their merits would require 
more space for examination than could be atlbrded in this work. 
For an exposition of the legal principles involved in the dis- 
cussion, the reader is referred to Judge Furman's notes, and 
other productions of the same author. 

The history of the Dutch church in this county has been 
so fully detailed in our account of Flatbush, that little more is 
necessary on that head. 

In the year 1659 the inhabitants of the town applied to 
Governor Stuy vesant for permission to call a minister for their 
congregation, assignuig, as a reason for their application, the 
badness of the road to Flatbush, the difficulty of attending 
divine service at New-York, and the extreme old age and 
inability of the Rev. Mr. Polhemus to perform ministerial ser- 
vices at Brooklyn. 

The governor deemed this request reasonable, and sent 
Nicasius de Sille, Fiscal of New-Netherland, and Martin Kre- 
gier, Burgomaster of New- Amsterdam, to this town, as a com- 
mittee of inquiry, who reported in favor of the application ; 
whereupon the request of the inhabitants was granted. They 
accordingly prepared a call for the Rev. Henry Solinus, alias 
Henricus Selwyn, from Holland ; who was approved of by the 
classis of Amsterdam, on the Ifith of February. 1G60, when the 
classis also gave the Rev. Mr. Solinus a dismission, wishing 
him a safe and prosperous journey by land and by water to 
his conofre2:ation in the New-Netherland. The time of the 
arrival of this minister is not known. He was installed in the 
church on the 3d of September, 1660, in the presence of the 
Fiscal and Burgomaster Kregier, by the order of Governor 
Stuy vesant, who appears to have been at the head of the eccle- 
siastical as well as the civil and military government of the 
colony. The salary of Mr. Selwyn was fixed at six hundred 
guilders ; and the marriage fees, instead of being a perquisite of 
his office, were to be accounted for to the church. On the 29th 
of October, 1 662, it appaars that he paid over to the consistory 
seventy-eight guilders and ten stivers, for fourteen marriages 






476 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

performed by him during the year. On the 23d of July, 1664, 
he returned to Holland ; and after his departure, Charles 
Debevoice, schoolmaster and sexton, wcis directed to read the 
prayers in the church, and a sermon from an approved author, 
every Sabbath, till another should be called. The first Dutch 
church was built here in 1666, and stood about forty years ; 
when another was erected on the same spot, which was taken 
down in ISLO, and a new and substantial one built in Jero- 
lemon Street. This last, not being found sufficiently large, 
has lately given place to a more splendid edifice, on nearly the 
same site. 

An Episcopal society existed in this town as early as 1766. 
It was incorporated in 17S7 ; and in 1795 St. Ann's church 
was occupied for the first time. This building was of stone, 
and was superseded by the present elegant edifice in 1S24. 
The first Methodist church was incorporated in 1794 ; the first 
Presbyterian church in 1822; the first Baptist church in 1823 ; 
the first Roman Catholic church in 1822; and the first Con- 
gregational church in 1839. 

The first printing-press established in this town was by 
Thomas Kirk in 1 799, h:om which was issued a weekly news- 
paper, entitled '' The Courier, and New- York and Long Island 
Advertiser,^'' and was continued for about four years. The 
first number of the " Long Island Star," by the same gentleman, 
was issued on the first of June, 1809, and transferred to Alden 
Spooner in the year ISll. 

The most compact part of this town was incorporated into a 
village on the 12th of April, 1816, which, although violently 
opposed by a portion of the population, gave a new impulse to 
the spirit of improvement, and has resulted in raising it to the 
third rank among the cities of the State of Xew-York. The 
village charter authorized the election of five trustees, and 
those named in the act were xlndrew Mercein, John Garrison, 
John Doughty, John Seaman, and John Dean. This charter 
was several times amended and enlarged as the increase of po- 
pulation required, until it became indispensable to endow the 
place with the name and privileges of a city. On the 8th of 
April, 1834, the whole territory of the town was incorporated 



TOWN OF BROOKLYN. 477 

under the name of the " City of Brooklyn,^' and its inhabitants 
a body corporate and politic, by the style of " The Mayor and 
Conwion Council of the City of Brooklyn^' It is divided 
into nine wards ; the powers of the corporation are vested in a 
mayor, and a board of aldermen composed of two, elected an- 
nually from each ward. These have the appointing of most of 
the subordinate officers of the city. Bedford, upon the eastern 
part of the towoi, was formerly a separate hamlet ; but is now so 
far swallowed up by the progress of improvement, as to have 
nearly lost its identity. Goioanus is that part of Brooklyn 
which joins Flatbush and the waters of the bay, consisting prin- 
cipally of a low tract of salt marsh, ponds, and creeks, over 
which a highway and bridge have been constructed, and is fast 
becoming more valuable as the citv advances in that direction. 
The WaUahout is a part of Brooklyn north-east from the 
ferry, and rendered famous in the revolution from having been 
the scene of the most heart-rending sufferings of many thousand 
American citizens, confined on board the prison -ships station- 
ed in the bay. The United States possess about forty acres, in- 
cluding the site of the old mill-pond. Here have been erected a 
spacious navy-yard, public store-houses, machine-shops, and 
two immense edifices, in which the largest ships are protected 
from the weather, while building. On the opposite side of the 
bay has lately been constructed the Naval Hospital, which is 
not only splendid, but magnificent. The " Apprentices' Li- 
brary Association " was formed in 1S24, the corner-stone of 
which was laid by the Marquis La Fayette during his last 
visit to America in that year. The library is now in the 
Brooklyn Lyceum ; and the building having become the pro- 
perty of the city, is appropriated for public offices, and the liold- 
ing of courts, being denominated the " City Buildings.'^ The 
Brooklyn Lyceum was instituted October 10, 1833. The edi- 
fice is a beautiful specimen of architecture, composed of granite, 
and every way adapted to the purpose of its projection. The 
objects of this institution are intellectual and moral improve- 
ment, by means of certain specified committees, and by gratui- 
tous public lectures. A course of lectures by gentlemen of the 
city of New- York was commenced the 7th of November, 1S33 ; 



478 HISTORY OP LONG ISLAND. 

and has been varied occasionally by essays, principally from 
the pens of ladies. The Brooklyn Collegiate Institute for 
young ladies was incorporated in 1829. The building is large 
and beautifully located near the East River. It flourished for 
a few years, and gave promise of permanent utility ; but from 
want of sufficient patronage, the school has been given up. 
The " Citi/-Hall" which was commenced a few years since 
upon a magnificent scale, has been interrupted in its progress, 
and doubts are entertained of its completion, at least upon the 
plan and to the extent originally contemplated. 

This town had a full share of the military operations during 
the Revolutionary war ; and was for a long time in the posses- 
sion of the British army. It is covered with the remains of for- 
tifications, which were thrown up by the Americans and En- 
glish for their defence against each other. In this town was 
fought the most sanguinary part of the battle of Long Island, 
August 27, 1776 ; which took place on the retreat of the Ame- 
rican army within their lines, and the attempt of a portion of 
them to ford the mill-pond at Gowanus; in which attempt 
nearly the whole of a regiment of young men from Maryland 
were cut off. 

Many of the minor events connected with this battle and the 
Revolutionary contest are fast sinking into the shades of obli- 
vion ; the compiler has therefore thought proper to give place 
to the following piece of history, not with an idea that he can 
immortalize any event which he relates ; but with a hope that 
his efforts will call forth some nobler pen to do justice to the 
memories of many of the almost forgotten heroes of those hard- 
fought battles and arduous contests. In the battle above-men- 
tioned part of the British array marched down a lane, or road, 
leading from the Brush tavern to Gowanus, pursuing the Ame- 
ricans. Several of the American riflemen, in order to be more 
secure, and at the same time more effectually to succeed in 
tlieir designs, had posted themselves in the high trees near the 
road. One of them, whose name is not now known, shot the 
English Major Grant ; in this he passed unobserved. Again 
he loaded his deadly rifle, and fired ; another English officer 
fell. He was then discovered, and a platoon ordered to ad- 



TOWN OF BROOKLYN. 479 

vance, and fire into the tree; which order was immediately 
carried into execution, and tlie rifleman fell to the ground, dead. 
After the battle was over the two British officers were buried 
in a field near the place, and their graves fenced in with some 
posts and rails, where their remains still rest. But, for 
"an example to the .rebels," they refused to the American rifle- 
man the rites of sepulture, and his body lay exposed on the 
ground till the flesh was rotten, and torn off the bones by 
the fowls of the air. After a considerable length of time, in a 
heavy gale of wind a large tree was uprooted ; in the cavity 
formed by which some friend to the Americans, notwithstand- 
ing the prohibition of the English, deposited the soldier's 
skeleton to mingle in peace with its kindred earth. 

In the year 1776 and the subsequent years, there was station- 
ed at the Wallabout several ships for the reception and confine- 
ment of American seamen taken prisoners by the enemy. The 
circumstances in relation to this event are so interesting, and 
are so intimately connected with the Revolutionary history of 
the town, that we cannot omit giving a brief account of some 
of the more prominent ones, which have been derived from 
the pen of Jeremiah Johnson, Esq., mayor of the city of Brook- 
lyn, a gentleman of great intelligence and research, and whose 
memory extends back to the period to which the facts them- 
selves relate. The qualifications of this respectable indivi- 
dual, and the large share of public confidence enjoyed by him, 
are evinced by the fact of his having held the office of super- 
visor of the town for more than forty years in succession. He 
has, moreover, represented the county in the legislature, and 
risen from a private in the militia to the rank of major-general. 
He has also been a judge of the common pleas ; and on the 3d 
of April, 1814, was appointed to the command of the 22d bri- 
gade of New- York infantry, consisting of one thousand seven 
hundred and fifty men, who were stationed at Fort-Green 
durinsr the late war. 

O 

The following particulars were communicated by him to the 
editor of the "Naval Magazine," for September, 1836 : 

" The subject of the naval prisoners, and of the British prison-ships stationed 
at the Wallabout during the revolution, is one which cannot be passed by in 



480 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND. 

silence. From printed journals published in New- York at the close of the war, 
it appears that eleven tliousand five hundred American prisoners had died oo 
board the prison ships. Although the number is very great, siill if the number 
who perished had been less, the commissary of naval prisoners, David Sprout, 
Esq., and his deputy, had it in their powev, by an official return, to give the true 
number exchanged, escaped, and deaJ. Such a return has never appeared in 
the United States. This man returned to America after the war, and resided in 
Philadelphia, where he died. He could not have been ignorant of the statement 
published here on this interesting subject. We may therefore infer, that about 
that number perished in the prison sliips. A large transport, named the Whitby. 
was the first prison ship anchored in the "Wallabout. She was moored near 
" Remsen's Mill," about the '20th of October, 1776, and was crowded with prison- 
ers. Many landsmen were prisoners on board this vessel ; she was said to be 
the most sickly of all the prison ships. Bad provisions, bad water, and scanted 
rations were dealt to the prisoners. No medical men attended the sick. Disease 
reigned unrelieved, and hundreds died from pestilence, or were starved, on board 
this floating prison. I saw the sand-beach between a ravine in the hill and Mr. 
Remsen's dock become filled with graves in the course of two months; and be- 
fore the 1st of May, 1777, the ravine alluded to was itself occupied in the same 
way. In the month of May of that year two large ships were anchored in. the 
Wallabout, when the prisoners were transferred from the Whitby to them. 
These vessels were also very sickly, from the causes before stated. Although 
many prisoners we're sent on board of them, and were exchanged, death mads 
room for all. On a Sunday afternoon, about the middle of October, 1777, one of 
the prison ships was burnt ; the prisoners, except a few, who, it was said, were 
burnt in the vessel, were removed to the remaining ship. It was reported at the 
time that the prisoners had fired their prison'; which, if true, proves that they 
preferred death, even by fire, to the lingering sufferings of pestilence and starva- 
tion. In the month of February, 1778, the remaining prison ship was burnt at 
night ; when the prisoners were removed from her to the ships then wintering in 
the Wallabout. In the month of April, 1778, the Old Jersey was moored in the 
Wallabout, and all the prisoners (except the sick) were transferred to hei-. The 
sick were carried to two hospital ships, named the Hope and Falmouth, anchor- 
ed near each other about two hundred yards east from the Jersey. These ships 
I'emained in the Wallabout until New- York was evacuated by the British. The 
Jersey was the receiving-ship — the others, truly, the ships of Death! It has 
been generally thought that all the prisoners died on board of the Jersey. This is 
not true ; many may have died on board of her who were not reported as sick : 
but all the men who were placed on the sick-list were removed to the hospital 
ships, from which they were usually taken, sewed up in a blanket, to their li/ng 
home. 

After the hospital ships were brought into the Wallabout, it was reported that 
the sick were attended by physicians; few, very few, however, recovered. It 
was no uncommon thing to see five or six dead bodies brought on shore in a sin- 
gle morning ; when a small excavation would be made at the foot of the hill, the 
bodies be cast in, and a man with a shovel would cover them by shovelling 
sand down the liili upon them. Many were buried in a ravine on the hill; some 
on the farm. The whole shore from Rennie's Point to Mr. Remsen's dock-yard 
was a place of graves ; as were also the slope of the hill near the house, the shore 



TOWN OF BROOKLYN. 481 

from Mr. Remsen's barn along the mill-pond to Rapelje's farm and the sandy 
island, between the flood-gates and the mill-dam ; while a few were buried on 
the shore, the east side of the Wallabout. Thus did Death reign Acre, from 1776 
until the peace. The whole Wallabout was a sickly place during the war. The 
atmosphere seemed to be charged with foul air from the prison ships, and with 
the effluvia of the dead bodies washed out of their graves by the tides. We have 
ourselves examined many of the skulls lying on the shore ; from the teeth, they 
appear to be the remains of 'men in the prime of life. A singularly daring and 
successful escape was effected from the Jersey about 4 o'clock one afternoon, in 
December, 1780. The best boat of the ship had returned from New-York, was 
left fastened at the gangway, with the oars on board. It was stormy; the 
wind blew from the north-east, and the tide ran flood. A watch-word, was given, 
and a number of prisoners placed themselves between the ship's waist and the 
sentinel ; at this juncture four eastern captains got on board the boat, which was 
cast off by their friends. The boat passed close under the bows of the ship, and 
was a considerable distance from her before the sentinel on the forecastle gave 
the alarm, and fired at her. The boat passed Hell-Gate, and arrived safe in 
Connecticut next morning. 

Suffice it to say, in conclusion, that here more than eleven thousand American 
citizens and soldiers perished, many of whose names are unknown, and whose 
sufferings are buried in oblivion ! They lingered where no eye of pity witness- 
ed their agony; no voice administered consolation ; no tongue could praise their 
patriotic devotion, or friendly hand be stretched out for their relief. Here to 
pass the weary day and night, unvaried, except by new scenes of painful endu- 
rance, and new inflictions of hopeless misery. The hope of death was to them 
the only consolation which their situation afforded. 



61 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX 



No. I. 

Capitulation by the Dutch to the English. Referred to at page 96. 

Thkse Articles following were consented to by the Persons here under subscrib- 
ed, at the Governour's Bowery, August the STth, Old Style, 166-4. 

I. We consent That the States-General, or the West India Company, shall 
freely injoy all Farms and Houses, (except such as are in the Forts,) and that 
within six months they shall have free Liberty to transport all such Arms and 
Ammunition as now does belong to them, or else they shall be paid for them. 

II. All Publique Houses shall continue for the Uses wlucli they are for. 

III. All people shall continue free Denizens, and shall injoy their Lands, 
Houses, Goods, wheresover they are within this Country, and dispose of them 
as Uiey please. 

IV. If any Inhabitant have a Mind to remove himself, he shall have a Year 
and six Weeks from this day, to remove himself. Wife, Children, Servants, 
Goods, and to dispose of his lands here. 

V. If any Officer of State, or Publique Minister of State, haVe a Mind to go 
for England, they shall be transported Fraught free, in his Majesty's Frigotts, 
when these Frigotts shall return tliither. 

VI. It is consented to, that any People may freely come from the Netherlands, 
and plant in this Colony ; and that Dutch Vessels may freely come hither, and 
any of the Dutch may freely return home, or send any Sort of Merchandize home 
in Vessels of their own Country. 

VII. All Ships from the Netherlands, or any other Place, and Goods therein, 
shall be received here, and sent hence, after the manner which formerly they 
were, before our coming hither, for six Months next ensuing. 

VIII. The Dutch here shall injoy the Liberty of their Consciences in divine 
Worship and Church Discipline. 

IX. No Dutchman here, or Dutch Ship here, shall upon any occasion be 
pressed to serve in War against any Nation whatsoever. 

X: That the Townsmen of the Manhattans shall not have any Soldiers quar- 
tered upon them, without being satisfied and paid for them by the Officers ; and 
that at this present, if the Fort be not capable of lodging all the Soldiers, then the 
Burgomasters, by his Officers, shall appoint some Houses capable to receive 
them. 

XI. The Dutch here shall injoy their own Customs concerning their InheriU 
ances. 



486 APPENDIX. 

Xn. All Publique Writings and Records, which concern the Inheritances of 
any People, or the Reglement of the Church or Poor, or Orphans, shall be care- 
fully kept by those in whose Hands now they are, and such Writings as parti- 
cularly concern the States-General, may at any Time be sent to them. 

Xllf. No Judgment that has passed any Judicature here, shall be called in 
Glusstion ; but if any conceive that he hath not had Justice done him, if he apply 
himself to the States-General, the other Party shall be bound to answer for the 
supposed Injury. 

XIV. If any Dutch, living here, shall at any Time desire to travaile or traf- 
fique into England, or any Place, or Plantation, in obedience to his Majesty of 
England, or with the Indians, he shall have (upon his Request to the Governor,) 
a Certificate that he is a free Denizen of this Place, and Liberty to do so. 

XV. If it do appeare that there is a publique Engagement of Debt by the Town 
of theManhattoes, and aWay agreed on for the satisfying of that Engagement, it 
is agreed that the same Way proposed shall go on, and that the Engagement shall 
be satisfied, 

XVI. .'Ml inferior Civil Officers and Magistrates shall continue as now they 
are, (if they please,) till the customary Time of new Elections, and then new ones 
to be chosen by themselves ; provided that such new chosen Magistrates shall take 
the Oath of Allegiance to his Majesty of England before they enter upon their 
Otfice. 

XVII. All Differences of Contracts and Bargains made before this Day, by 
any in this Country, shall be determined according to the Manner of the Dutch. 

XVIII. If it do appeare that the West India Company of Amsierdam do 
really owe any Sums of Money to any Person here, it is agreed that Recognition 
and other Duties payable by Ships going for the Netherlands, be continued for 
6 Months longer. 

XIX. The Officers Military, and Soldiers, shall march out with their Arms, 
Drums beating, and Coloi's flying, and lighted Matches; and if any of them will 
plant, they shall have fifty Acres of Land set out for them ; if any of them 
will serve as Servants, they shall continue with all Safety, and become free 
Denizens afterwards. 

XX. If at any Time hereafter the King of Great Britain, and the States of the 
Netherland, do agree that this Place and Country be re delivered into the Hands 
of the said States, whensoever his Majestic will send his Commands to re-deliver 
it, it shall immediately be done. 

XXI. That the Town of Manhattans shall choose Deputyes, and those Depu- 
tyes shall have freeVoyces in all publique Affairs, asmuch as any other Deputyes- 

XXII. Those who have any Property in any Houses in the Fort of Aurania, 
shall (if they please) slight the Fortifications there, and then enjoy all their 
Houses, as all People do where there is no Fort. 

XXIII. If there be any Soldiers that will go into Holland, and if the Company 
of West India in Amsterdam, or any private Persons here, will transport them 
into Holland, then they shall Tiave a safe Passport from Colonel Richard 
Nicolls, Deputy-Governor under his Royal Highness, and the other Commission- 
ers, to defend the Ships that shall transport such Soldiers, and all the Goods in 
them, from any Surprizal or Acts of Hostility, to be done by any of his Majestie's 
Ships or Subjects. That the Copies of the King's Grant to his Royal Highness 
and the Copy of his Royal Highness's Commission to Colonel Richard Nicolls, 



1 



APPENDIX. 437 

testified by two Commissioners more, and Mr. Winthrop, to be true Copies, shall 
be delivered to the Hon. Mr. Siuy vesant, the present Governor, on Munday 
next by Eight of the Clock in the Morning, at the Old Miln ; and these Articles 
consented to, and signed by Colonel Richard Nicolls, Deputy-Governor to his 
Royal Highness; and that within two Hours aller the Fort and Town culled New 
Amsterdam, upon the Isle of Manhatoes, shall be delivered into the Hands of the 
said Colonel Richard Nicolls, by the Service of such as shall be by him thereunto 
deputed, by his Hand and'Seal. 

John De Decker, Robert Carr, 

Nich. Verleet, Geo. Cartwright, 

Sam. Mcgapolensis, John Winthrop, 

Cornelius Steenwick, Sam. Willys 

Oloffe Stevens Van Kortlant, Thomas Clarke, 

James Cousseau, John Pinchon. 

I do consent to these articles, 

RICHARD NICOLLS. 



No. 11. 



List of Governors, Liev tenant- Governors, and Presidents of I he Council who 
have administered the Government oj the Colony and Slate of New-York f rum 
its seUlement to the present time. 

DUTCH. 

Peter Minuet, Director-General, - . . . i625 to 1629 

WauterVanTwiller, 1629 to 1G38 

];^'"'^"i Keift, 1638 to 1647 

Peter Stuy vesant, 1647 to 1664 

Anthony Colve, - from October 14, 1673, to February 9, 1674 

ENGLISH. 

Richard Nicolls, - - . . f^m September 7, 1664 to 1667 

Francis Lovelace, 1667 to 1673 ' 

Edmund Andross, 1674 to 1681 

Anthony Brockholst, 1G81 to 1683 

Thomas Dongan, ---.... 1683 ,0 1688 

Francis Nicholson, 1688 to 16S9 

Jacob Liesler, (Lieutenant-Governor,) - - . iggg to 1691 

Henry Slaughter, a few months in - - . . 1691 

Richard Ingolsby, (Lieutenant-Governor,) - ' - 1691 to 1692 

Benjamin Fletcher, 1692 to 1698 

Richard, Eafl of Bellamont, 1698 to 1701 

John Nanfan, (Lieutenant-Governor,) - - . 1701 to 1702 

Edward Hyde, (Lord Cornbury,) - - . . 1702 to 1708 

Lord Lovelace, (Baron of Hurley,) ... 1708 to 1709 
Richard Ingolsby, (Lieutenant-Governor,) {tw months in 1709 

Gerardus Beekman, (President,) .... 1799 to 1710 

Robert Hunter, 1710 to 1718 

Peter Schuyler, (President,) 1718 to 1720 



4SS APPENDIX. 

William Burnet, 1T20 to 1728 

John Montgomerie, - - - - - - H-^ to 1731 

Rip Van Dam, (President,) 1731 to 1732 

WilUam Cosby, 173-J to 1736 

George Clarke, 1736 to 1743 

George Clinton, - - 1713 to 1753 

James De Lancey, (Lieutenant-Governor,) iu - - 1753 

Panvers Osborn, a few days in - . . . 1753 

James De Lancey, (Lieuteiiant-Grovernor,) - - 1753 to 1755 

Charles Hardy, 1755 to 1757 

Jmnes Do Lancey, (Lieutenant-Governor,) - - 1757 to 1760 

Calwallader Colden, (Lieutenant-Governor,) - - 17l»0 to 176*2 

Robert Monkton, -...--- 176-3 to 1763 

Cadwalader Colden, (Lieutenant-Grovcrnor,) - - 17t>3 to 1765 

Henry Moore, 1765 to 1769 

Cadwalader Colden, (Lieutenant-Governor,) till - - 1"~0 

John Murray, Earl of Dunmoi-e, ... - 1770 to 1771 

William Tryon, 1771 to 1775 

(The colonial government was suspended in May, 1775 ; from which time, till 

April, 1777, New-York was governed by the provincial congress; Nathaniel 

Woodhull, pi-esident of the congress in August, 1775. The state-government 

went into operation after the adoption of the constitution, the 00th of April, 

1777.) 

St^itf Governors. 

George Clinton, from - 1777 to 1705 

John^Jay, 17;>5 to ISOl 

George Clinton, ISOl to 1804 

Morgan Lewis, - - • ISlU to 1S07 

Daniel D. Tompkins, 1S07 to 1817 

John Taylor, (Lieutenant-Governor,) in - - 1717 

De Witt Clinton, - - - - - - - 1S17 to 18->2 

Joseph C. Yates, 1800 to 1804 

* De Witt Clinton, ..-.--- 1804 to 180S 

Nathaniel Pitcher, (Lieutenant-Grovernor,) - - l^OS to 1809 

Martin Van Beuren, three months in _ . - 1S09 

Enos T. Throop, (Lieutenant-Grovernor,) - - 1809 to 1830 

Elected Governor, 1830 to 1830 

William L. Marcy, 1830 to 1839 

William H. Sewani, 1839 

T'u- Tcnns ofth<: Ci>iirts of Common Fkas. 

IS SUFFOLK. \ ^''^^ Tuesday in January, last Tuesday in ( ^^^ Rj^er-Head. 
( May. first Tuesday in October. S 

c First Tuesday in June, last Tuesday in Oc- ) „ □ . j 

™ acEEXs. \ ^^,^,^r ^i,,,.j Tues^lay in February. ' 5 ^^ N.Hempstead 

c Thiixl Tuesday in January, third Tuesday in April, third Tues- 
is Kixt^s. ^ j^y -^^ y^jiy^ jjj- J.J Tuesday in October. At Brooklyn. 

i First Tuesday of every month at the ElxcJiange Build- 
crrr of brookltk. ^ j^^ .^^ 

Brooklifn Mti*u:ip<il Court, at the City Buildings, cTery day, except Sundays. 



APPENDIX. 



489 



No. III. 

Treaty of HaHford, 1G50 ; mentioned at pages 87 and 322. 
Articles of agreement made and conluded at Hartford, upon Conccticut, Sep- 
tember 19, 1650, between delegates of the Commissioners of tjie United English 
colonies, and the delegates of Peter Stuyvesant, governor-general of New Nether- 
lands— concerning the bounds and limits between the English United Colonies 
and the Dutch province of New Netherlands. 

We agree and determine as follows: 
That upon Long Island, a line run from the westernmost part of Oysterbay 
and so in a straight and direct line to the sea, shall be the bounds between the 
English and the Dutch there, the easterly part to belong to the English, and the 
westernmost part to the Dutch. 

The bounds upon the main to begin upon the west side of Greenwich Bay 

being about four miles from Stamford, and so to run a westerly line twenty miles 

, up into the country, and after, as it shall be agreed by the two governments of the 

] Dutch and New- Haven, provided that said line run not within ten miles of Hud- 

sou's River, and it is agreed that the Dutch shall not, at any time hereafter, build 

any house or habitation within six miles of the said line. The inhabitants of 

, Greenwich to remain (till further consideration thereof be had,) under the go- 

, vernment of the Dutch. 

i That the Dutch shall hold and enjoy all the lands in Hartford that they are 
actually in possession of, known or set out by certain marks and bounds, and all 
the remainder of the said lands, on both sides of Connecticut River, to be and re- 
j main to the English there, 

( And it is agreed, that the aforesaid bounds and limits, both upon the island 
I and main, shall be observed and kept inviolable, both by the English of the unit- 
ed Colonies and all the Dutch nation, without any encroachment or molestation, 
until a full determination be agreed upon in Europe, by mutual consent of the 
two States of England and Holland. And in testimony of our joint consent to 
the several foregoing conditions, we have hereunto set our hands this 19th day of 
September, 1650. 

SIMON BRADSTREET, THOMAS WILLET 
THOMAS PRINCE, GEORGE BAXTER. ' 



No. IV. 



\Remonstrance of the several towns in the Dutch, territory, to the Governor and, 
' council, in 1653, a fart of which is quoted at pages 80, 81 and 82; the remain- 
der is as follows : 

" Wherefore, although with all humility, we will declare freely our anxious 
fears by which we some time since have been alarmed and discouraged in our 
labors and callings, so that it is not in our power to act with that rigor and af- 
fection in promoting the welflire of our country as well as before, although in a 
wilderness, for the following reasons : 

1. Our apprehension to see an arbitrary government established among us, 
which is contrary to the first intention and genuine principles of every well-regu- 
lated government, to wit : that one or more should arrogate the exclusive power 

62 



490 APPENDIX. 

to dispose arbitrarily of the life and property of any individual, and this in virtue 
or under pretext of a law or order which he might fabricate, without the consent, 
knowledge, or approbation of the whole body, their agents or representatives. 

Thus new laws relative to the lives and property oi the inhabitants, contrary 
to the privileges of the Netherlands, and odious to every free-born man, and 
principally so to those whom God had placed under a free government on new 
settled lands, who are entitled to claim laws which are as near resembling those 
of Netherland as possible. 

It is our humble opinion that it is one of our privileges, that in making new 
laws, our explicit consent, or that of our representatives, is unavoidably requir- 
ed for their adoption. 

2. Casually we are every year full of apprehension that the natives of the 
land may commence a new war against us, by the murders they commit under 
the pretext that they have not been paid for their land, which creates many ca- 
lamities and discourages settlers, and even contributes to lessening the number 
and industry of the remainder. 

It has, thus far, not been in our power to discover the truth hereof, or ascer- 
tain to what tribe these murderers belong. It is too often disregarded as commit- 
ted by savages who reside at a considerable distance. But, be that as it may, it 
fills us with daily anxiety, so that we are compelled to look out for own defence, 
as we cannot discover in what manner our lives and property shall be protected, 
except by our own means. 

3. That officers and magistrates, although personally, from their qualifications, 
deserving similar offices, are appointed contrary to the laws of the Netherlands, 
to many offices, without consent or nomination of the people, which nevertheless 
are the most concerned in the choice. 

4. That many orders and proclamations made before, without approbation of 
the country in the days of yore, by the authority of the Director-General and 
council, either of former days or actually ruling, which remain obligatory, al- 
though we are ignorant of their force, and become transgressors from ignorance 
without knowing it, by which we are exposed to many dangers and troubles, 
and may occasion our own ruin without knowing it. 

5. On the promises of grants and general letters of privileges and exemptions, 
various plantations have been made at a great expense of the inhabitants in 
building their houses, making fences, &c., the cultivation of the land, and princi- 
pally so by those of Middleburgh, and Middlewout, with their neighborhoods ' 
and other places. 

Many single farms were taken up by persons who solicited a deed of such a 
grant, but were always delayed and disappointed, to their great loss, which 
creates a suspicion that some innovations are in contemplation, or that there is a 
lurking intention to alter former stipulations. 

6. That to some individuals, large quantities of land are granted for their pri- 
vate profit, on which a large village of 20 or 30 families might have been esta- 
blished, which, in the end, must effect an immense loss to the Patroons, with re- 
gard to their revenues, as well now as in future, and which must weaken the 
strength of the Province, and disable that part of the country to provide in or con- 
tribute to its defence, and that of its inhabitants, except we or our commonalty 
are enabled to effect it. 

7. As we exert ourselves to reduce all our griefs within six points, which we 



APPENDIX. 491 

confidentially explained, as we renew our allegiance, in the hope that these will 
soon be redressed, agreeably to the privileges of our country, when all discontents 
shall cease, a mutual harmony be restored, and our anxiety relieved. 

"We apply therefore to your wisdom to heal our sicknesses and pains. We 
shall remain thankful, and consider any further application needless, as we 
otherwise should be compelled to do. 

Upon which, humbly soliciting your honors' answer on every point or article 
in such a manner that we may remain satisfied, or proceed further, &c., as God 
shall direct our steps. 

Your Honors' suppliant Servants." 

Done.December 11, 1653. 



No. V. 



Narrative and remonstrance of the Deputies previously assembled at Hempstead, in 
March, 1665, as mentioned at page 108, relating to the different'apprehensiun 
of some matters then and there transacted. 

" His Majesty having employed his ships of war, and sent a considerable num- 
ber of soldiers to reduce these parts of America to his obedience, the present go. 
Ternment was readily received, and peaceably settled on Long Island, by virtue 
of his Majesty's letters patent, made and granted by his Royal Highness James, 
Duke of York and Albany, bearing date the twelfth day of March, in the six- 
teenth of the reign of our sovereign Lord King Charles the II, published a 
Gravesend, on Long Island, aforesaid, about the middle of August following, in 
the audience of a great number of the inhabitants thereof, by the Right Honorable 
Col. Richard Nicolls, deputy governor under his royal highness. At which 
time and place Governor Winthrop, being then present, openly declared that 
their colonies claimed no jurisdiction de jure over Long Island ; but what they 
had done was for the welfare, peace, and quiet settlement of his Majesty's sub- 
jects, as they were the nearest court of record to them under his Majesty ; but 
now his Majesty's pleasure was fully signified by his letters patent, as above 
said, their jurisdiction over them ceased and became null ; whereupon our ho- 
norable Governor then replied also, that he would not put out any of the officers 
which Connecticut had set up in the civil state, but confirm them under his pow- 
er to act in every town, until a convenient season served to convene deputies 
from all the towns on the island, when and where laws were to be enacted and 
civil officers established. 

Shortly after, at another meeting of our honorable governor and Connecticut 
Commissioners, several persons were there confirmed by him in civil authority, 
by his writing under his hand, which they published in several towns where 
they were to collect rates and former dues for Connecticut, unto which power 
these eastern towns readily and willingly obeyed and submitted for the space of 
six months at least. 

In March following, we were convened, being deputies chosen by the several 
towns in a general assembly held at Hempstead, where his Majesty's aforesaid 
patent was first read, and a commission from his royal highness the Duke of 
York, empowering and inresting the aforesaid Col. Richard Nicolls, with autho- 
rity to put the contents of the said patent into practice and execution, who de- 
clared unto us that our first business ihould be to decide some, and to compose 



492 APPENDIX. 

other differences which were on float before he came to the government, accord- 
ing to the manner and form in practice since our late acknowledgment of the Con- 
necticut authority ; but that he had prepared a body of general laws hereafter to 
be observed ; the which were delivered to us, and upon perusal we found them to 
be a collection of the laws now in practice in his Majesty's other colonies in 
New England, with abatement of the severity against such as differ in matters 
of conscience and religion. 

We proceeded to object against some and propose other clauses in the laws ; 
whereupon several amendments were made with further assurance from the go- 
vernor, that when any reasonable alteration should be offered from any town to 
the sessions, the Justices should tender the same at the assizes, and receive satis- 
faction therein, the truth and effects whereof we have since found. 

The Governor further declared that for his own part he expected no benefit for 
his labors out of the purses of the inhabitants, not so much as to defray his charge 
and expenses at the courts ; but that it was absolutely necessary for him to esta- 
blish a form and rule of county rates, to support the public charge ; whereupon 
we pitched upon the form and rule at this day observed in Connecticut, which 
was known to some of those present. 

In the next place we conceived that two hundred pounds yearly might defray 
the public charge ; to which the Governor replied that he would touch none of the 
public money, but that the high sheriff from year to year should cause the same 
to be collected, and give, at the expiration of his office, in open court at the gene- 
ral assizes, an account of his receipts and disbursements. 

If it should happen the rate was more than the charge of his year, the overplus 
should remain to the use of the country the next year ; if the charge was greater 
than the rate, the country was obliged to bear it with an additional rate ; in all 
which transactions we acted with sincerity of heart, according to the best of our 
understanding, and in obedience to his Majesty's authority established by his let- 
ters patent over us. 

Moreover we appointed a committee to attend the governor for his resolution, 
whether we might not, according to the custom of the other colonies, choose our 
magistrates: We received answer by our deputies, that they had seen the in- 
struction of his Royal Highness, wherein the choice of all the offices of Justice 
was solely to be made by the Governor, and some of us do know that a parlia- 
ment of England can neither make a judge nor justice of the peace. 

In conclusion the Governor told us that we had seen and read his Majesty's 
letters patent, the commission and instructions from his Royal Highness the 
Duke of York, and if we would have a greater share in the government than he 
could allow, we must go to the king for it. 

Nevertheless some malicious men have aspersed us as betrayers of their liber- 
ties and privileges, in subscribing to an address to his Royal Highness, full of 
duty and gratitude, whereby his Royal Highness may be encouraged the more to 
take us and the welfare of our posterity into his most princely care and consi- 
deration. 

Neither can any clause in that address bear any other natural sense and con- 
struction than our obedience and submission to his Majesty's letters patent, ac- 
cording to our duty and allegiance. 

However, that our neighbors and fellow-subjects may be undeceived of the 
false aspersions thrown upon us, and the impostures of men disaffected to go- 



APPENDIX. 493 

vernment manifested, lest they should further prevail upon the weakness of 
others; we, the then deputies and subscribers of the said address conceive our- 
selves, obliged to publish this narrative and I'emonstrance of the several pas- 
sages and steps conducting to the present government under which we now live 
and we desire that a record hereof may be kept in each town, tliat futm-e ages 
may not be seasoned with the sour malice of such unreasonable and groundless 
aspersions. 

Signed by the Deputies. 
Dated the 21st day of June, 1666. 



No. VI. 



Remonstraiice of Southampton against the order requiring them to take out a new 

patent. 

Southamption, February 15, 1670. 
To the Governor : 

Honorable Sir. — We, the inhabitants of this town, do hereby present unto you 
our humble service, &c. to show our respect to your honor's pleasure, and our 
obedience to the order of the honorable court of assize — we are bold to manifest 
herein unto you some reasons why we are unwilling to receive any further patent 
for our lands, as followeth: 

1st, Because, as we have honestly purchased them of the natives, (the proper 
and natural owners of them,) so also we have already the patent right, lawfully 
obtained and derived from the honorable Earl of Stirling, we being to pay one 
fifth part of gold and silver ore, and four bushels of Indian corn j'early. 

2dly, Because the injunction laid on persons and plantations by the laws in 
1666, to take forth patents for their lands from our then governor, we grounded- 
ly conceive intended not the plantations on this east end of the island, but only 
those at the west end who were reduced from a foreign government, even as here- 
tofore. Those English that came to dwell within the precincts which the Dutch 
claimed took out land briefs from the Dutcli governor. 

3dly, Because those of us, who were first beginners of this plantation, put 
none but ourselves to the vast charge in our transport hither, we greatly ha2lard- 
ed our lives (as some lost theirs) here amongst and by the then numerous and 
barbarously cruel natives ; yet thi'ough divine Providence we have possessed 
these our lands above thirty years without interruption or molestation by any 
claiming them from us, and therefore we cannot, see why we should lose any of 
our rightful privileges, so dearly and honestly purchased, or how our lands can 
be better assured to us by taking out another patent from any one. 

4thly, And materially because by our said patent we had licence (we being 
but few) to put ourselves under any of his Majesty's colonies for government, 
whereupon accordingly, by willing consent on all sides, we adjoined ourselves 
to Hartford jurisdiction, and divers of us became members of the king's court 
there, and when the worthy Mr. Winthrop obtained a patent from his Majesty 
our present lord. King Charles II., for the said colony of Hartford, our town is 
includotl, and some of the then chief members of our town expressly nominated 
in the patent ; so that this place became undeniably an absolute limb or part 
of the said colony ; and moreover, since that and after his Majesty's commis- 
sioners came into these parts, his Majesty of grace and free motion was pleased 



494 APPENDIX. 

SO far to encourage his people of the said colony, as by his letter to assure them 
that their ecclesiasiical and civil privilesres which he had granted ihem, should 
not be infringed or diminished by his said commissioners, or any others vhaiso- 
ever. 

Sly, It is not only in all our experience beyond all parallel that each lowii 
should be constrained to take Ibrth a patent, but also the patents here imposed 
and those given forth, which yet we have seen, seem to bind persons and towns 
in matter of payment to the will and mercy of their lord and his successors, or 
lieutenants ; and who can tell but in time to come those may succeed who, 
through an avaricious distemper, may come upon us with such heavy taxes and 
intolerable burdens, as may make us, or our poor posterity, to groan like Israel 
in Egypt. 

61y, Because people are enjoined to acknowledge in the said patent (if we mis- 
take not greatly) that his royal highness the Duke of York is sole proprietor of 
the whole island ; which we cannot consent unto, because we know ourselves 
to be the true proprietors of the land we here possess, with the appurtenances 
thereunto belonging, and also because men are enjoined by the said patent to pay 
not only all just dues, but also all demands that may be made by his royal high- 
ness or his authorised agent. 

Tly, Because we are more than confident his Majesty will desire no more of 
us than already we are, even his faithful liege people, who have many of us al- 
ready taken, and the rest of us are ready to take^ the oath of allegiance unto him. 
Willing we are to pay our just dues in town and to the country, and ready to 
serve his Majesty with our lives and fortunes ; we are his subjects, and we 
know that he will not make us slaves to any. 

. Sly, Because Greneral Nichols gave it under his hand that we at this end 
should have as great privileges as any colony in New-England, and yet we are 
denied our deputies at the courts ; we are forced to pay customs for goods im- 
ported, for which custom hath before been paid to his Majesty's use in England. 

91y, and lastly. — The king's commissioners, in the year 166i, by their procla- 
mation, seemed to demand only the goverimient, with exact and full promise that 
the people should enjoy whatsoever God's blessing and their own industry had 
furnished them withal ; and we see not what more a patent can assture us, espe- 
cially considering that the patents here taken forth by places, or particular per- 
sons, secure them not absolutely ; for it seems to us by the order of the court of 
assizes, even from them who have received a patent, wood and timber may be 
taken away without leave and without pay ; in all which respects, and some 
other, we cannot be willing to take fortli more patent than we have. And if we 
do succeed otherwise than we expect, we hope we shall, like good christians, pa- 
tiently bear the pressure that may be permitted to fall upon us, yet never fail to 
be fervent votaries for your honor's real happiness. 

[Signed by Thomcxs Halscy, jun. and 49 other inhabitants of the town.] 



No. VII. 

Of the Qtutier Pcrsecuthns. 

"Whether the persecutions formerly practised toward the respectable sect of 
Christians, called Quai:ers, ought to be ascribed to the peculiar temper and dis- 



APPENDIX. 495 

position of the a^e in which they -were perpetrated, or to the bigotry of particu- 
lar sects or»individuals, it is not our province to determine : yet at the same time 
some account of those unjustifiable outrages upon the rights of conscience and 
the liberty of speech, seems a necessarj'fpart of the duty of the historian. These 
acts of Tiolence were more particularly frequent and notorious from the year 
lo47 to 1664, during the administration of Peter Stuyvesant, who appears to 
hare been a zealous and intolerant member of the Dutcli Calvinisiic church, 
and disposed to execute the instructions accompanying his commission with the 
most extravagant rigor. The official oath required by those iustructioos was, 
''tXf miiiticiuinf^ oft'u Reformed Religion in c^mftfrmity to tkc icord an^ Uu 
d^rtfs ojt'v synod ot'DardrcrJkt, and not to McraU in public any otier sect." By 
an ordinance of 1656, any one preaching doctrines other than those authorized 
by the Synod, was finable one hundred, and everyone attending thereon, twenty- 
five guilders. In the spirit of this provision, the governor, in 1656, imprisoned 
some Lutherans, and in 165S banished a clergyman of that church. He was 
reproved for the former by the DutcJi West India Company, who directed him to 
permit the free exercise ot their religion to all persons within their own houses ; 
and though commended for the latter, was instructed to use moderate measures in 
future. Against the Cluakers. who had, by their peaceful and prudent conduct, 
made many converts in some of the western towns on the island, particularly at 
Jamaica and Flushing, the temper of the governor was violent and revengefiiL 
Orders in writing, or placards, were issued to the toxt-n authorities not to enter- 
tain members of this odious sect ; and the ordinance of 166-2 provided, that besides 
the Reformed religion, no conr€nHcles should be holden in kcusfs, barns, skips, 
voods, mjlflds, under the penalty of fifty guilders for each person, man, woman, 
or child, attending for the first offence : double for the secx>nd ; quadruple for the 
third ; and arbitrary correction for every other. The importation of seditious 
and sedtuine ioots, and the lod^nsr of persons arriving in the Province without 
reporting themselves and t,^ng the oath of allegiance, subjected the offenders to 
severe penalties. These, with some other causes of discontent, rendered the 
govemmeni very unoopulsir ; and it is probable^ that, had not the Province been 
conquered in 1664 by a foreign power, a revolution wotild have, in a very short 
time, been effected by the inhabitants themselves, either with or witlioui the aid 
of the other colonies. 

Materials upon the subject of these Cluaker persecutions are both abiuidant and 
authentic ; yet want of space will necessarily restrict our inquiries witiiin 
narrow limits, and confine our attention to a few cases of more than ordinary 
severity. The most prominent individuals against whom these atrocities were 
committed were — Robert Hodgson. Edward Farrington, William Bowne, Wil- 
liam Noble, Edward Feake, Henry Townsend, John Townsend, Edward Hart, 
John Bowne, Samuel Spicer, and John Tilton. Of Hodgson little more is 
known than that he was a worthy man, and highly esteemed by the Friends for 
his intelligence and zeal in defence of civil and religious libeny. The cruel 
treatment he received from the government drove him from the Province alter 
the tenninaiion of his sufferings and imprisonment- Spicer and Tilton, and 
probably Farrington, came with Baxter and Hubbard to Gravesend in 1643, 
accomp<mied by the Lady Moody, fiom Massachusetts. William Bowne c.ame 
about the same time to Gravesend, and was a m-agistrate there in 1657. H« 
afterwards removed with his family, and a few other duakers, from that town 



496 APPENDIX. 

to New Jersey, where they made a purchase, embracing the present county of 
Middlesex and part of Monmouth. John and Henry Townsend, with their 
brother Richard, emigrated, it is believed, from Lynn Regis in Norfolkshire, 
England, to Saugus, (now Lynn,) Massachusetts, a little previous to 1640, and 
soon after arrived in the New Netherlands. John first located at New Amster- 
dam, and afterwards with Henry at Flushing; from whence they, with Richard, 
went to Jamaica, and eventually to Oyster-Bay, where they became large pro- 
prietors of land, and the progenitors of a numerous offspring. Their posterity, 
by repeated intermarriages with the families of that and the neighboring towns, 
have become very extensively connected, and rank among the most respectable 
citizens. John Bowne, and his father Thomas Bowne, were among the earliest 
and most venerable inhabitants of Flushing. They embraced with zeal the 
opinions and principles of George Fox, and were, with others, on this account, 
marked out by the minions of arbitrary power, as fit subjects of rigorous and 
unceasing persecution. It has been mentioned in a former part of this work, 
that John Bowne was, in 1663, transported to Holland for his supposed heretical 
opinions, and for which act the Governor was severely reprimanded by the "West 
India Company, whose servant he was. The communicaiion made by the 
governor and council at the time, and addressed to the dix-ectors, was as follows: 
'^Honorable, right respectable gcatle7iien. We omitted in our general letter, the 
troubles and difficulties which we, and many of our good inhabitants, have since 
some time met with, and which daily are renewed by the sect called duakers ; 
chiefly in the country, and principally in the English villages ; establishing forbid- 
den conventicles, and frequenting those against our published placards, and dis- 
turbing in this manner the public peace ; in so far that several of our magistrates 
and well-affectioned subjects remonstrated, and complained to us from time to 
time of their insutferable obstinacy; unwilling to obey our orders or judgments. 
Among others, has one of their principal leaders, named John Bowne, who, for his 
transgressions was in conformity to the placards, condemned in an amende of 150 
guilders, in seawant, who has been under arrest more than three months for his 
unwillingness to pay, obstinately persisting, in his refusal in which he still con- 
tinues ; so that we at last resolved, or were rather compelled, to transport him in 
this ship from this province, in the hope that others might, by it, be discouraged. 
If, nevertheless, by these means no more salutary impression is made upon others, 
we shall, though against our inclinations, be compelled to prosecute such persons 
in a more severe manner ; on which we previously solicit to be favored with your 
Honors' wise and foreseeing judgment. With which, after our cordial salutations, 
we recommend your Honors to God's protection, and remain, Honorable and Right 
Respectable gentlemen, 

" Your Honors' faithful Servants." 
■ " Fort Amsterdam in New Netherlands, 
9th January, 1663." 

This man had been arrested, September 1, 1632, cliarged with harboring 
duakers, permitting them to hold their meetings at his house, attending them 
himself, and suffering his family to attend them. After remaining in prison for 
some timis for the non-payment of his fine, he was offered his liberty on condition 
of leaving the province, which, refusing to do, he was transported as aforesaid. 
His father, Thomas Bowne, died at an advanced age, September 18, 1677. 



APPENDIX. 497 

From the first appearance of the Cluakers in the jurisdiction, it seems to have 
been the determination of Governor Stnyvesant to prevent, by every possible 
means, the dissemination of opinions, which he was pleased to denominate " sedi- 
tious, heretical, and abominable ;" and the whole sect was always spoken of with 
the utmost contempt and with the most opprobrious epithets. Among the first 
that fell under his displeasure was Hodgson. He was accused of holding conven- 
ticles, and, proceeding toward Hempstead, he was seized by order of Richard 
Gildersleeve, a magistrate there, and committed to prison. Information being 
sent to the city, a guard was ordered to bring him before the governor and council. 
Two women, who had entertained him, were also taken ; one of whom had a 
young child. These were put into a cart ; and Hodgson being fastened behind 
it, was dragged through woods by night to the city, and thrust into the dungeon 
of Fort Amsterdam. On being brought out next day, he was examined, con- 
demned, and sentenced to two years' hard labor, or to pay a fine of 600 guilders. 
With the latter alternative he was either unable or unwilling to comply, and was 
again confined, without permission to see or converse with any one. Being after- 
wards chained to a wheel-barrow and commanded to work, he refused to do so, 
and was, by order of the court, beaten by a negro with a tarred rope till he fainted : 
the punishment was continued at intervals to one hundred lashes with the same 
results. After having been for some months confined, and frequently scourged as 
before, he was liberated at the solicitations of the governor's sister, and banished 
from the province. Upon the Dutch records, the case of Henry Townsend is 
alluded to, who, on the 15th of September, 1657, was condemned in an a??ieTO£ie 
of £8 Fkmders, or else to depart the province within six weeks, upon the penalty 
of corporal punishment, for having called together conventicles. Being a person 
I of great worth and consideration with the people of Flushing, where he had pre- 
■yiously resided, they assembled, and addressed a remonstrance to the governor, 
I dated December 27, 1657, in which they acknowledge the receipt of a prohibition 
to retain or entertain any of the people called GLuakers, and say that they cannot 
condemn, nor stretch out their hands against them, to punish, banish, or persecute 
them, considering it a case of conscience between God and their ow?i souls. That 
I the love of peace and liberty extgnds to Jews, Turks, and Egyptians, as the so7is 
i of Adam, condemning hatred, war, and bondage ; all which they said was accord- 
ing to the patent of their town, which they were unwilling to infringe or violate. 
This document was subscribed by Edward Hart, as town clerk, and thirty others ; 
together with John and Henry Townsend of Jamaica, then called Rustdorp. It 
was presented next day in person by Tobias Feaks, sheriff, one of the signers. 
I The governor was highly incensed, and ordered his attorney-general, Nicasius De 
Sille, immediately to arrest him. Farrington and Noble, two of the magistrates, 
signers also, were taken and imprisoned. Hart admitted writing the paper, say- 
I ing he was requested to do so as containing the sentiments of the village meeting 
I at the house of Michael Milnor. He was therefore imprisoned. On the 8th of 
January, 1658, the magistrates of Rustdorp informed the governor that the 
Cluakers and their adherents were lodged, and entertained, and unrelentingly corre- 
sponded in said village, at the house of Henry Townsend ; who, they say, formerly 
convocated a conventicle of the Cluakers, and assisted in it, for which he had been 
condemned on the loth of September, 1657, in an amende of £8 Flanders, that 
{had not as yet been paid. He was thereupon cited to appear, John Townsend, 
who had also been summoned, January 10, on being asked if he had gone with 

63 



498 



APPENDIX. 



Hart to persuade Farrington to sign the remonstrance, answered thai he had been 
at Flusliing, and visited Farrington as an old acquaintance ; and that he had also 
been at Gravesend, but not in company with the banished female diiaker. The 
court having suspicions of his favoring the CLuakers, he was ordered to find bail 
for £12, to appear when summoned. On the 15th of January, Henry Townsend 
attended, and was told by the attorney-genera,!, " that as he had treated the pla- 
cards of the director-ge?ieral and council with contempt^ and persisted in lodging 
Quakers, he should be condemned in an amende of £100 Flanders, to be an ex- 
ample for oilier transgressors and, contumelious offenders of the good order and 
placards of the director-general and council in Ncic Netherlands, and so to remain 
arrested till the said amende be paid, besides the costs and miscs of justice." On 
the 28th, Sheriff Feaks was brought from prison, and " though (says the record) 
he confessed that he had received an order of the director-general not to admit in 
the aforesaid village any of that Asi'cZica^ a;i«^ oAommaWe sect called Q,uakers, or 
procure them lodgings, yet did so in the face of the placards ; and, what was worse, 
was a leader in composing a seditious and detestable chartahel, delivered by him 
and signed by himself and his accomplices, wherein they justify the abominable 
sect o^ \heQ.VL3.\\ers, who treat with contempt all political and ecclesiastical au- 
ihority, and undermine the foundations of all government and religion." He 
was therefore degraded from his office, and sentenced to be banished or pay an 
amende of 200 guilders. On the 26th March, 165S, the governor, in order to pre- 
vent as much as possible the consequences of duaker influence among the people, 
resolved to change the municipal government of the town of Flushing ; and there- 
fore, after formally pardoning the town for its mutinous orders and resolutions, 
says, "in future I shall appoint a sheriff, acquainted not only with the English and 
Dutch language, but with Dutch practical lau- ; and tliat in future there shall be 
chosen seven of the most reasonable and respectable of the inhabitants, to be called 
Tribinicsox Townsmen ; and whom the sheriff and magistrates shall consult in 
all cases ; and that a tax of twelve stivers per morgen is laid on the inhabitants 
for the support of an Orthodox minister ; and such as do not sign a written sub- 
mission to the same in six weeks, may dispose of their property at their pleasure, 
and leave the soil of this government." 

On the council records of January 8, 1661, it is stated that the governor address- 
ed the people of Jamaica, informing them that be had received their petition for a 
minister to baptize some of their children ; and their information that the Qnakcrs 
and other sects held private conventicles. He tells them that he had despatched 
his deputy- sheriff, R.esoIve Waldron, and one of his clerks, Kicholas Bayard, to 
take notice thereof, and requiring the inhabitants to give exact information where 
and in what house such unlawful conventicles were kept; what persons had 
exercised therein ; what men or women had been present ; who called the meet- 
in'' and of all the circumstances appertaining thereunto. In consequence of this 
inquisitorial espionage of the governor's deputy, Henry Townsend was a third 
time dra«'<»ed to the city, and again incarcerated in the dungeons at Fort Amster- 
dam. On the day following, he and Samuel Spicer, who had also given enter- 
tainment to a duaker at his mother's house in Gravesend. were brought from 
their loathsome prison. It was proved by witnesses procured for the occasion, 
that Townsend had given lodging to a GLuaker, and besides notifying his neigh- 
bors had even allowed him to preach at his house and in his presence ; also, that 
Spicer was present, both at tlie meeting at Jamaica and Gravesend, and procured 



APPENDIX. 499 

lodging for the Q,naker at his mother's house. They were accordinglj' condemned 
in an avicndc of 600 guilders each, in conformity to the placard respecting conven- 
ticles, and to be imprisoned until the said amende be paid ; and further, that the 
said Henry To\vn?end be banished out of the province, for an exfimplc to others. 
The widow Spicer, mother of Samuel, was also arrested, accused, und condemned 
in an amende of £15 Flanders. The said Henry Townsend having ingenuously 
acknowledged that he lodged in his houss some other friends who are called 
Cluakers, and had a meeting of friends at liis house, at which one of tliem spoke, 
hi was thereupon again sentenced as follows : " Wliercas, Henry Townsend, now 
a prisoner residing at Riistdorp, was heretofore imprisoTied and punished for 
lodging and retaining some of the sect of Qjui/ccrs, hns done the same de novo, 
whereby this abominable sect, who vilify both tlic political magistrat-es and the 
ministers of God's holy word, are confirmed and encouraged in their errors, and 
others arc lured and seduced, and led astray from th^ right road ; all u-hich are 
■cases of the vio$l pernicious consequence, from which nothing can arise but cala- 
mities and divisions, directly contrary Ip the orders of the director- general, and 
iherefore he deserves to be further punished as an example for otiiers. The council 
having heard the prisoner's confession, condemn him in an amende of £25 
Inlanders, with an express warning to abstain in future from all such conventicles, 
on (he penalty of being banished from the prarince.'' 

On the 5th of October, 1662, John Tilton and Mary his wife, having been ac- 
cused and committed before the govei-nor and council of New Amsterdam, of hav- 
ing entertained Cluakers and frequented their conventicles, were condemned, and 
ordered to depart from the province before the 20th of November following, upon 
pain of corporal puishment. It is presumed, that through the influence of Lady 
Moody, the last sentence was either reversed or commuted for the payment of a 
fine, as they continued to reside at Gravesend for the remainder of their lives. 

Many more instances, with almost equally aggravated circumstances, miwht be 
mentioned, showing that the severe reprimand which the governor received from 
the authorities of Holland was well merited, and ought to have been followed 
by his expulsion from an office he so unworthily tilled. But his power was soon 
after terminated by the conquest of New- York ; yet his Excellency, though de- 
prived of the government, was nevertheless permitted to retain his large posses- 
sions upon Manhattan Island, a good portion of which is still enjoyed by his de- 
scendants. 

Before closing this interesting article, we will cite an example of Quaker per- 
secution, which took place during the administration of Lord Cornbury, a man of 
most detestable character, and fully equal to the Dutch Governor for reliaious in- 
tolerance. He in his turn persecuted other sects as well as Gluakers, instances of 
which are adverted to in other parts of this work. The case we now allude to is 
that of Sa/nuel Bownas, a Gluaker preacher, who came to America at the be- 
ginning of the 18th century. The facts are stated in the journal of his travels af- 
terwards published. He left England on the 24lh of March, 1702, and landed in 
Maryland, where he received a challenge from George Keith, an Episcopal mis- 
sionary, who had once been a Gluaker. He was followed by Keith through Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey to Long Island, and a meeting being appointed at 
Hempstead, he preached November 21, 1702, at the house of one Thomas Pear- 
sail. As Keith could not, by other means, silence his adversary, he procured Rich- 
ard Smith and William Bradford of Hempstead to make an affidavit, charwincr 



500 APPENDIX. 

him with heresy, and for which a warrant was issued by Joseph Smith and Ed- 
ward Burroughs, justices, for his apprehension. On the 29th, while attending 
a meeting of friends at Flushing, Cardell the high sheriff, with a posse armed with 
guns, pitchforks, swords, and clubs, entered the house, and took him prisoner. 
He appeared before the court at Jamaica, consisting of four justices, Joseph Smith, 
Edward Burroughs, John Smith, and Jonathan Whitehead, the last of whom, 
aays the prisoner, was a very moderate man, and did much to set him at liberty; 
but they had a priest with them, who put the worst construction upon every thing 
he said and had also a man secreted in a closet to note down what he should say ; 
but the man was so drunk, that in going home he lost his papers, for which great 
inquiry was made. The justices ordered the prisoner to give bail in £2000, with 
sureties to appear and answer an indictment, which the prisoner said he would 
not t^ive, " were it only three half -pence. ''^ Justice Whitehead offered himself as 
bail, and took the prisoner home till next day, when he was committed to gaol in 
Jamaica for the term of three months. At the end of which, a special commission 
of oyer and terminer was granted to Chief Justice Bridges, and Robert Miller, 
Thomas Willet, John Jackson and Edward Burroughs, associates, who met at 
the county hall in Jamaica. The names of the grand jury were Richard Cornell, 
Ephraim Goulding, John Clayer, Isaac Hicks, Robert Hubbs, Reginald Mott, 
Theodore Vanderwick, Samuel Denton, Joseph Mott, Richard Valentine, Na- 
thaniel Coles, Joseph Dickerson, Isaac Doughty, Samuel Emery, John Smith, 
John Sering, John Oakley, Samuel Hallet, Richard Alsop, John Hunt, James 
Clement, and William Bloodgood. The jury presented the bill to the court, en- 
dorsed " Ignoramus ;" upon which the judge was very angry, and told the jury that 
surely they \i^A forgot their oaths, and for so doing he could give them some hard, 
names, but for the present should forbear. " Is this your verdict (said the judge) 
touching the quaker ?" " It is," said the forman ; at which the judge raged, and 
threatened to " lay the jury by the heels, and to impose a fine upon them ;" to which 
one of thom replied, if he did, " the matter should soon be exposed in Westminster- 
Hall.'''' The judge now ordered the prisoner to be kept more close than before, 
and threatened to send him to London, chained to the deck of a man-of-war, then 
ready to said for England. " Thomas Hicks, an honest old man, who had been 
a justice of the province, and was well versed in the law, came to visit me, 
(says he,) and consoled me with many kind words, saying that they dare not send 
me out of the country." His old enemy, Keith, published a pamphlet against him, 
which rather increased the number of his friends. During his imprisonment he 
learned to make shoes, by which he earned fifteen shillings a week, refusing at the 
same time all pecuniary aid from his friends. While here, he was visited, he says, 
by an Indian sachem, who asked him if he ivas a Christian ; and being told yea, 
and are they not Christians who keep you here ?" Being told they called themselves 
60, he expressed much surprise, and said, ^'■Xhe Mang Maneton (mea.x\\ngGoA) 
looked at the heart." Then the Indian took a piece of coal, and drawing a circle, 
said, " they believed the Great Spirit to be all eye, that he saw every thing ; all ear, 
that he heard every thing ; and all mind, that he knew every thing." At the sitting 
of the court in October, 1703, the bill was again returned, " Ignora7nu$," and he 
was discharged. He visited America again in 1727, and died in England on the 
Sd of April, 1753. 



APPENDIX. 501 

No. IX. 

of Colonel Smith and, his descendants, or the Tangier Smiths, t 

' Colonel William Smith was born at Newton near Higham Ferrers in 
Northamptonshire in England, February 2d, 1665. It seems that in his youth 
he was destined for the active scenes of life, and it is not probable that he receiv- 
ed either a classical or legal education. He, however, possessed a vigorous mind, 
with a versatility of genius capable of attaining distinction in any employment 
to which it was applied. The family probably were attached to the i-oyal cause, 
as he seems to have been in great favor with Charles II, which was continued 
during the reigns of James II, William and Mary, and while he continued under 
Clueen Anne. 

Charles II, in 1675, appointed him governor of Tangiers, which place, as well 
as Bombay, was given to him by the king of Portugal as a part of the marriage 
portion of his wife, dueen Catharine, the daughter of that king; and he proba- 
bly at the same time gave him the commission of colonel, and the command of 
the troops necessary to protect an establishment on that barbarous coast. It 
was intended to make Tangiers a place of trade, and to establish a colony there. 
The project, however, did not succeed; and in 1683 the place was abandoned, 
and Col. Smith returned to England. He married Martha, daughter of Henry 
Tunstall, Esq., of Putney, in the County of Surrey, November 6, 1675. 

After his return, he embarked in trade in London, and continued in business 
until he left he country in July, 1686. 

It would also seem that he was for a short time concerned in trade after his ar- 
rival here, and may have come over for that purpose. There is an entry of a 
note on the records of Brookhaven, bearing date April 23, 1690, given by Col. 
Thomas Dongan, the late governor of the province, to Col. Smith, for £993, 
purporting to be for goods, in which the colonel is styled amerchant. 

Col. Smith arrived with his family at New-York August 6th, 1686. He very 
early visited Bi-ookhaven, and seems to have taken a fancy to a valuable neck of 
land there, called Little Neck, which was held in shares by various proprietors, 
who were in some dispute about the premises. Governor Dongan aided him in 
effecting the purchase. He wrote to the proprietors, and recommended it to 
them to sell out to Colonel Smith, as the best mode of terminating the contro- 
versy, to which a considerable portion of them agreed ; and on the 2-2d of Octo- 
ber, 1687, Colonel Smith made his first purchase in Brookhaven, of Little Neck, 
now owned by S. B, Strong Esq., one of his descendants. 

In 1689, it is supposed he removed to Brookhaven with his family, and took 
up his permanent residence there. After his settlement at Brookhaven, he made 
a purchase of a large tract of country, extending from the country road to the 
South Bay, and from the Fireplace River to Mastic River, to which the town 
assented, and which, with his former purchases, was erected into a manor, by 
the name St. George's manor, by patent of Colonel Fletcher in 1693; and sub- 
sequent to this he purchased all the lands unpurchased, lying between liis for- 
mer purchase arid the bounds of Southampton, which were annexed to his manor 
by another patent of Col. Fletcher in 1697, whose grants to individuals were so 
extravagant, that several of them were annulled by an act of the colony legis- 
ture under the succeeding administration. 

Governor Slaughter arrived at New-York March 19th, 1691, and on the 25th 



502 APPENDIX. 

he appointed Col. Smith one of tlie nnembera of the council: he also appointed 
him one of the commissioners of oyer and terminer, which tried and convicted 
Leisler and his associates. 

The supreme court was established by an act of the legislature, May 6th. 
1691; consisting of a chief justice, with a salary of £130; a second judge, 
with a salary of £100; and three other judges, without a salary. On the 15th, 
the governor and council appointed Joseph Dudley chief justice, Thomas John- 
son the second judge, and Col. Smith, Stephen Van Cortland, and William 
Pinhorne, the other judges. Col. Smitli was at the same time appointed a judge 
or delegate of the prerogative court for the county of Suffolk. 

Col. Fletcher arrived, and took upon him the government, August 29th, 1693. 
November 11th. 1692, the seat of Joseph Dudley was vacated for non-residence, 
and Col. Smith was appointed chief justice in his room. On the 8th of June, 
1693 he was commissioned to succeed Col. Youngs in the command of the mi- 
litia of Suffolk county. During the time he held the office of chief justice, the 
colony was divided into rancorous parties, and the public measures were of 
course influenced by party spirit; yet he seems to have discharged the duties of 
his office with great dignity and impartiality. Governor Bellamont, on his ar- 
rival, April 2d, 1698, took part with the friends of Leisler, and, as might be ex- 
pected removed Col. Smith from the office of chief justice, and on the 30th of 
October, 1700, appointed Mr. Van Cortland in his stead. He was, however, 
allowed to retain his place at the council board, as his loyalty was so well known 
in En "-land, and such his popularity with the ministry, that his Excellency dare 
not carry his resentment so for as to remove him. Tlie governor died 5th of 
March, 1701, and John Nanfan, the lieut. governor^ being absent from the 
colony, Col. Smith, president of the council, claimed and exercised the author- 
ity of government. This claim was opposed by the adherents of Leisler, and 
denied by a majority of the assembly, who were of the same party. The min- 
utes of the supreme court, while Col. Smith presided, from Oct. 4, 1693, to Oct. 
5 1700, are preserved in the collections of the New-York Historical Society. 
In 1702 Lord Cornbury re-appointed him chief justice, which office he held till 
April, 1703. He continued a member of the council till his death, which took 
place at his residence upon Little Neck, Setauket, Feb. 18, 1705. The inscrip- 
tion upon his tomb in the family cemetary, is as follows : 

•' Here, lyes intered ye body of ye Hon^. Coll. William Sviith, Chief e 
Justice and President of- ye Councill of yc Province of Ncw-Yorke. 
Born in England at Higham-F&rrers in J^orthamptonshire Feb. ye 
2d. 16.5|-, and died at the mansion of St. George, Feb. 18, 170i, in 
ye b\st yeare of his age.'" 
The wife of Col. Smith is said to have been a remarkably intelligent and well 
bred lady, and eminently skilled in domestic economy. They had three sons, 
Henry, William, and Charles Jcjfcry ; the last-named died young and without is- 
sue. Henry Smith, like his father, was a gentleman of talents and information, 
and filled the office of clerk of Suffolk County from 1710 to 1716; was for many 
years one of the judges of the county and a delegate of the prerogative court, 
for taking the proof of wills, &c. for the said county, William Smith, the se- 
cond son of Col. Smith, commonly called Major Smith, settled on a part of his 
father's purchase at Mastic. His son William, who also lived at the same 
place, was for many years a judge of the court of common pleas of the coun- 



APPENDIX. 503 

f 

ty, and a member of the first provincial congi-ess: In 1777 he was elected a 
senator under the state constitution, which office he retained till peace in 1783. 
His sons were John and William. The former was the laic Gtneral Smith a 
man of good abilities, well acquainted with public business, and greatly respect- 
ed by the community. He was in office from early life till his death. He was 
a member of the state legislature for most of the time from 1784 to 18U0. In 
1788 he was in the convention that adopted the constitution of the United 
States. In 1799 lie was elected a representative in congress, and was continu- 
ed for four years, from which station he was appointed by the legislature of 
this slate a senator in the congress of the United States. In 1814 he was made 
marshal of the southern district of New- York, which he held till his decease 
June 25, 1816. His wife, whom he left a widow, was the daughter of the la- 
mented General WoodhuU, and who yet survives. The only daughter of Gen. 
Smith is the wife of John L. Lawrence, Esq., of New-York. William Smith, 
brother of General Smith, was a respectable farmer of Brookhaven, and lived 
and died upon that part of St. George's manor, since called Longwood, now in 
possession of his son, William Sidney Smith, Esq. 

Col. William Smith, son of Henry and grandson of the chief justice, was 
likewise a gentleman of consideration and ability. He was clerk of the coun- 
ty of Suffolk from 1730 to 1750, and was also judge of the common pleas for 
several years before the Revolution. He married Margaret, daughter of Hen- 
ry Lloyd, Esq., of Lloyd Neck, and had several children. His daughter, Anna, 
a lady of much amiability and worth, became the wife of the late Judge Selah 
Strong of Sctauket. 



No. X. 

Of General Nathaniel WoodhuU. 
This gentleman was the son of Nathaniel WoodhuU, of Brookhaven, a 
descendant of Richard WoodhuU, one of the first settlers of that town, and who is 
supposed to have left England in consequence of having taken an active part in 
favor of liberty a short time before the restoration of Charles II. in IGGO. He 
is named in the original deeds for Jamaica as one of the first proprietors of that 
town, but settled in Brookhaven soon after. An original letter of Lord Crew 
to him, dated in 1687, in answer to one of his, is among the papers of the late 
Abraham WoodhuU, Esq., of Brookhaven, in which he styles him cousin, and 
speaks of his relations, among whom he enumerates a bishop, and a number of 
families of the first rank in society. General WoodhuU had three brothers 
younger than himself, RicJuird, Jesse, and Ebenezer. The first-named graduated 
at Yale College in 1752, was a tutor there some years, where he died. Jesse 
and Ebenezer removed to Orange coimty, where many of their posterity still 

reside. 

General WoodhuU, the eldest son, was born at Mastic, Long Island, Decem- 
ber 30 1722. His early life was passed in assisting his father to cultivate the 
possession which he afterwards inherited, and his education was such as calcu- 
lated to fit him for the duties of active life. He was endowed by nature with a 
strong, discriminating mind and a sound judgment, which soon attracted the 
notice of his fellow-citizens, and pointed him out as peculiarly qualified for pub- 
lic usefulness. In 17G1 he married Ruth, daughter of Nicoll Floyd, and sister 



504 



APPENDIX. 



of General William Floyd. His first public employment was in a military ca- 
pacity in the war between Great Britain and France, which commenced in 
1754 and terminated in 1760. But it is not known that he entered the army be- 
fore 1758. Previously to that year, the war had been conducted without much 
system or vigor, and the French had the superiority in every campaign. Being 
appointed a major in the provincial forces of New-York, Mr. WoodhuU in 1758 
served in that capacity in the army under General Abercrombie, intended for 
the reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. He was engaged in the dar- 
ing, or rather rash assault, ordered by the English General, before the arrival of 
the artillery, upon the former place, wr>ich, strongly fortified, was defended by a 
gan-ison of more than five thousand, and protected on its only assailable side 
by foUen trees, with their branches projecting outward, so cut as to answer the 
purpose of a chevaux-de-frize. After an exposed fire of four hours from the 
French, during wliich timf every eflfort of heroic perseverance j^roved ineffectu- 
al in making an impression on the enemy's works, the assailing force was oblig- 
ed to retire to the southern side of Lake George, with the loss of about two 
thousand killed and wounded. Desirpus of wiping off the stain of this re- 
pulse. General Abercrombie detatched a portion of his army against Cadaraqui, 
or Fort Frontinac, (now Kingston,) an important fortress at the communication 
of Lake Ontario with the St. Lawrence, Lieut. Col. Bradstreet, with whom 
the design originated, commanded the enterprise, having a train of eight can- 
non and three mortars, and a body of three thousand men, of whom one hun- 
dred and fifty were regulars. The rest of the detachment was composed of 
Provincials from different places. On the 27th of August, 1758, a combined 
operation was made against the fort by land and water. The conduct of the 
forces in the boats being committed to Corse and Woodhull, the latter with or- 
ders to receive the fire of the fort without returning it, until their troops had 
loaded and fired. The resolution with which the operations were conducted dis- 
pirited the enemy, whose forces were insufficient to the defence of their works, 
and, after a feeble resistance, the garrison struck their colors, and capitulated. 
Immense stores of provisions and merchandise, intended for the French forces 
in America, sixty pieces of cannon, sixteen mortars, and nine armed vessels, 
some carrying eighteen guns, were the fruits of this surrender. Whether Mr. 
Woodhull was employed in the campaign of the following year is not ascer- 
tained, most of his papers having been destroyed by a fire a few years after his 
death. It is believed, however, that he either marched with the force which 
General Prideux conducted in 1759, against Niagara, or that led by General 
Amherst against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which last enterprise had a 
successful issue. In 1700 he served as colonel of the third regiment of New- 
York Provincials, under General Amherst, which marched against Montreal, 
and effected the final reduction of Canada. Upon the capitulation of the Mar- 
quis De Vaudreul, on the 8lh of September, Col. Woodhull, with his troops, re- 
turned to New-York, and retired to private life. The removal of French 
power from their neighborhood, so dangerous to the colonists, and their con- 
sciousness of having efficiently contributed to its achievement, produced, natural- 
ly, a more free inquiry into the relative rights of the provinces and the mother 
country. The spirit to which this inquiry gave rise was stimvlated by the pre- 
tentions of Britain that Americans were to be taxed by parliament for the ex- 
penses of whatever attacks might be made upon them, occasioned by any wars 



APPENDIX. 605 

of interest or ambition, in which the parent state might engage- and which 
grew into assertions of a right to tax them in all cases whatsoever. Acts of 
parliament rashly passed, and sometimes timidly repealed, only served to in- 
crease the existing discontent, and hasten the impending crisis. Parlicipatin" 
in the general feeling, the Assembly of New- York, at the close of December, 

1768, iinanimously resolved that no tax could, or ought to be, imposed on the 
persons or estates of his majesty's subjects within the colony, but by their oion 

free gift, and by their representatives in general assembly ; that the rights and 
privileges of the legislatures could not be abridged, superseded, abrogated or an- 
nulled ; and that they had a right to consult with the other colonies in matters 
wherein their liberties might be affected. In consequence of these resolutions, 
the Governor, Sir Henry Moore, dissolved the assembly on the 2d of January, 

1769. The languages and proceedings of tiie assembly were highly approved 
by the people of Suffolk, and at the election in the spring of 1769, they return- 
ed to the assembly Col. WoodhuU and William Nicoll, Esq. In their in- 
structions, drawn for their representatives, the county emphatically express- 
ed their reliance on the exertions of tlieir members to preserve their freedom, and 
ike command over their own purses. The injunction was faithfully observed by 
Col. Woodhull, who, during the six years that followed, of the continuance of 
the royal government, was constant in his devotion to the riglits of his coun- 
trymen and his opposition to the court party. In the convention which met in 
the city of New-York, April 10, 1775, to choose delegates to the continental 
congress. Col. Woodhull appeared from the county of Suffolk. Pursuant to a 
recommendation from the New-York local committee, a provincial congress was 
deputed by the several counties, which met in the city. May 22d, 1775. This 
body practically asserted its right to entire sovereignty, suspending, in effect, 
from the time of its organization, and ultimately dissolving and expelling, the 
royal authority. Col. Woodhull was placed at the head of the delegation from 
Suffolk. On the 22d of August, 1775, the provincial congress re-organized the 
militia of this colony intg brigades, directing that a brigadier-general, with a 
major of brigade, be commissioned to the command of each. The militia of 
Suffolk and Glueens constituted one brigade, of which Col. Woodhull was sub- 
sequently appointed general, and Jonathan Lawrence, Esquire, a member of the 
provincial congress from ducens, major of brigade. On the 28th of August, 
1775, General Woodhull was elected president of the provincial congress, which 
office he held in the body that succeeded it in 1776. The provincial congress, 
doubting its powers to conform to the recommendation of the continental con- 
gress, by erecting a new form of government, to the exclusion of all foreign con- 
trol, on the 31st of May, 1776, recommended to the electors of the several coun- 
ties to vest the necessary powers either in their present delegates, or in others 
to be chosen in their stead. The British army having, on the 30th of June, ap- 
peared off the harbor of New- York, the provincial congress, on its adjournment 
that day, directed that the congress in which those new powers were vested, 
should immediately assemble at White Plains. They did not, in fact, assemble 
till the 9ih of July, 1776, when General Woodhull was chosen president. The 
declaration of independence, passed nn the 4th, had not yet received the unani- 
mous approbation of the colonies in continental congress, the delegates from 
the colony of New-York having declined to vote, (although they were personal- 
ly in favor of the measure, and believed their constituents to be so,) because they 

64 



506 



APPENDIX. 



were fettered by instructions drawn nearly twelve months before, when the hope 
of reconciliation was yet cherished. Immediately on this meeting, the new 
provincial congress unanimously adopted the declaration, (General WoodhuU 
presiding,) on the part of the people of New-York ; thus filling the void occa- 
sioned by the want of the necessary powers in their delegates at Philadelphia. 
On the next day they assumed the title of the representatives of the State of New- 
York, The invading army under Lord Howe had landed on Staten Island, and 
by the command which their naval force secured over the adjacent waters, they 
were enabled to threaten an attack from this point either upon Long Island or 
the Island of New- York. General Washington was therefore obliged to divide 
the force collected to oppose them, a portion of which entrenched themselves at 
Brooklyn, when the residue was stationed at different places on York Island. 
The New- York convention had, on the 20th of July, ordered one fourth of the 
militia of Clueens and Suffolk to be drafted ; and the second regiment thus ob- 
tained, had marched under command of Col. Josiah Smith of Brookhaven, and 
Col. Jeromus Remsen of Newtown, within the lines at Brooklyn, theft com- 
manded by General Sullivan. On the 10th of August General Woodhull's 
affairs requiring his return home, he obtained leave of temporary absence from 
the convention, whose sittings had been transferred to Harlaem ; and proceeded 
to his residence at Mastic, seventy- five miles from New- York. On the22dof 
August, the uncertainty that had prevailed as to the first point of attack on the 
part of the invaders, was dispelled by the landing of a portion of their forces at 
New Utrecht, at the place now called Bath. Aware of the increasing want of 
provisions among the enemy, and the American army being confined to the lines, 
the whole stock and produce of Long Island would be in the power of the hos- 
tile troops, unless means were promptly used to prevent it. The convention 
adopted a policy since successfully pursued by the Russians on a larger scale. 
This was, to deprive the invading foe of supplies, and thus compel their aban- 
donment of the island, by removing the stock and other provisions in the vici- 
nity ; and if that could not be effected, by destroying them. Resolutions were ac- 
cordingly passed on the 24th of August, ordering General Wocdhull, or, in his 
absence, Col. Potter, (Doctor Potter, of Huntington, who had served against 
the French in 1758-9,) to march, without delay, one half of the western regi- 
ment of militia of Suffolk County, with five days' provisions, into the western 
parts of Q.ueen's County ; and that the officers of the militia of dueen's County 
should immediately order out the whole militia of that county, to effect the de- 
sired object. An express being sent with these directions to Major Lawrence, 
Colonel Potter, and General Woodhull, the latter reached Jamaica on the next 
day, (Sunday,) and immediately took measures to apprise the convention of his 
arrival there, and awaited the approach of the forces intended to act under his 
command. He was, however, doomed to experience not only delay, but disap- 
pointment, and his feelings may be more easily imagined than described. The 
convention were fully aware that the militia to be collected on this emergency 
would be wholly insufficient to effect the desired object, and more particularly to 
enable the General to station a force, agreeably to their wishes, on the high 
grounds in the western part of Clueen's County, to repel the ravaging parties of 
the enemy. In the preceding year it had been found necessary to dispatch some 
of the troops under the command of General Wooster to Suffolk County, to pre- 
vent depredations along its exposed coast, and its armed inhabitants were not 



APPENDIX. 507 

now more than competent to the same purpose. In Clueen's a majority of the in- 
habitants were disaffected to the patriotic cause, and rendered the defence of the 
county much more difficult. The Tories there had, in the preceding month of 
December, obtained a quantity of arms from the Asia man-of-war; and had even 
prevented, by their superior numbers at the polls, an election, then attempted, of 
delegates to the provincial congress ; insomuch that a military intervention, 
under the direction of the continental congress, had become necessary to de- 
prive the Tories of offensive weapons, and to secure to the Whigs the freedom 
of election. A large body of the "Whigs of that county were already embodied in 
the regiment of Colonel Remsen, and many of those at home were overawed by 
the neighborhood of the British force, or were employed in preparations for the 
flight of their families, if fortune should favor the British arms. The conven- 
tion accordingly deputed a committee to General Washington, advising him of 
their object; of their apprehension of the insufficiency of the force they had or- 
dered to join General WoodhuU ; and of their conviction that it would be most 
conducive to the public welfare that the regiments of Colonels Smith and Rem- 
sen should be added. The committe reported on the 26th, that at the conference 
with General Washington he seemed well pleased, but said he was afraid it was 
too late. He, however, expressed his willingness to afford every assistance to 
the convention consistent with the public good ; and stated that he would im- 
mediately give orders that Smuh's and Remsen's regiments should march into 
Queen's County and join General WoodhuU, Notice of this was forwarded to 
General WoodhuU ; as well as of the expectation that by the time he received their 
letter the promised reinforcement would have joined him. On the same day 
the whole militia that had been collected was assembled at Jamaica, and was 
found to consist only of about one hundred men, led by Colonel Potter of Suf- 
folk, about forty militia from aueens, and fifty horsemen belonging to the troop 
of King's and aueen's Counties. With this handful of men, General WoodhuU 
advanced to the westward of Queen's County, agreeably to his orders. Owing, 
probably, to the receipt of information that increased numbers of the British had 
disembarked on the preceding day at New Utrecht, the commanding officer at 
Brooklyn did not detach the second Long Island regiment to join General 
WoodhuU ; and by some fatality, the omission was neither communicated to the 
convention, nor to the expecting General. Disappointed at not meeting the ad- 
ditional troops, without whom he could not post any force on the heights to re- 
pel depredations of the enemy, he nevertheless commenced with vigor tlie exe- 
cution of the rest of his orders. He placed guards and sentries to prevent com- 
munication between the Tories and the enemy ; and scouring this and the sue- 
ceeding day the country southward of the hills in King's, and a considerable 
part of Newtown and Jamaica, he sent off an immense quantity of stock, col- 
lected them toward the great plains, and ordered off a further quantity from near 
Hempstead. In the mean time his numbers had dwindled (by the anxiety of 
the militia to reach their homes, and protect or remove their families) to less 
than a hundred men, who, as well as their horses, were worn down. What 
they had effected, demonstrated that with the force the convention had expected 
to place under his command, the object to which they attached so much impor- 
tance could have been accomplished. The subsequent disasters to the Ameri- 
can arms would, however, have rendered its accomplishment useless. Early on 
the 27th of August, a pass through the hills in King's County, which had been 



508 APPENDIX, 

left unguarded by the American troops, was taken possession of by the enemy. 
The American outposts were surprised, and the army driven, after a sanguina- 
ry engagement, within their entrenchments at Brooklyn. Numbers of the Brit- 
ish troops during the same day posted themselves on the hills between New- 
York and Jamaica, and parties of the enemy's horse made incursions into the 
country within a short distance of the General's force. In this state of things 
he retired to Jamaica, sending, at different times, two messages to the conven- 
tion, apj)rising them of his situation ; of the absolute necessity of reinforce- 
ments, and of his conviction that the two Long Island regiments could not join 
him in consequence of the interruption of the communication. Unfortunately, 
the convention did not sit on that day, and the General receiving no answer, 
dispatched his brigade-major, who was also a member of that body, to repeal 
his representation and obtain their orders. The convention, at their meeting on 
the 28th, still adhered to their former project; believing that by crossing the 
East River to York Island, and making a detour to Flushing, the two regiments 
might still reach Jamaica. They accordingly sent Major Lawrence to Gen. 
Washington with a letter expressing that opinion, and referring him to the 
brigade-major for explanations as to the means; at the same time they directed 
the necessary preparations for the transportation and landing of the troops, and 
receiving soon after a reiteration of the call for an immediate reinforcement, 
they deputed two of their body, John Sloss Hobart and James Townsend, Es- 
quires, to repair to General Woodhull with instructions and advice. Owing, 
probably, to the intermediate roads being in possession of the enemy, these gen- 
tlemen, it is believed, never reached him. 

Whether the express dispatched by Maj. Lawrence, as soon as ordered, on 
the mission to Gen. Washington, was more successful, is not known. On the 
same morning the convention forwarded a circular to the committees of the dif- 
ferent towns of Connecticut lying upon the Sound, requesting their co-operation 
in removing the stock from Long Island to that State, and an application to the 
governor for such force as could be speedily obtained. An application to him 
had been intermediately made by General Washington to throw over one thou- 
sand men upon the island. In the afternoon Maj. Lawrence returned from the 
American camp, bringing a letter from the commander-in-chief declining the re- 
quest of the convention for the desired reinforcement ; because, in the opinion of 
himself and his general officers, the men they had were not more than compe- 
tent to the defence of their lines. The retreat across the river, which was effect- 
ed on that night, might have been suspected and thwarted if the passage of the 
second regiment had been attempted in open day. This, no doubt, formed an ad- 
ditional reason*for non-compliance. In the mean time Gen. Woodhull, whose 
notions of military obedience had been formed in the strictest school, was await- 
ing the expected orders and reinforcements. At this time the situation of Gen. 
Woodhull was peculiarly embarrassing. If he had not received encouragement 
that he should be relieved, the smallness of his force would have justified an im- 
mediate retreat. Every communication from the convention, from whom he re- 
ceived his orders, imported it to be their wish he should retain his station in the 
western part of Glueen's County, and encouraged him to expect a ixinforcement. 
The omission of any intelligence to the contrary, with the delay of the return 
of his brigade-major, who was detained by the convention, was calculated to 
strengthen that expectation. To have retreated under these circumstances, would 



APPENDIX. 509 

have been a violation of military rules, and in case of relief being sent, would 
have been deemed highly dishonorable. In this emergency, the General had no 
counsel but his own honorable feelings to consult, and he adopted the course 
which they dictated. He resolved not to make a final retreat until he heard from 
the convention. On the morning of the 28th, he ordered his troops to fall back, 
and take a station about tour miles east of Jamaica, and there to remain until fur- 
ther orders. The General remained at Jamaica till afternoon, in momentary ex- 
pectation of a message from tiie convention. He then retired slowly with one 
or two companions, still indulging the hope of intelligence from the convention, 
until he fell a sacrifice to his reliance on their vigilance and his own high sense 
of military honor, which forbid his abandoning the station assigned him, however 
perilous, before he was assured that relief was hopeless, or he had orders to that 
effect. A severe thunder-shower, as is supposed, obliged him to take refuge in a 
public-house about two miles east of Jamaica ; he was there overtaken by a de- 
tachment of the I7lh regiment of British dragoons, and the 71st regiment of Brit- 
ish infantry, accompanied by some of the disaffected inhabitants as pilots. 

The General immediately, on being discovered, gave up his sword in token of 
surrender. The ruffian who first approached him, (said to be a Major Baird, of 
the 71st.) as reported, ordered him to say, God save the King ; the General re- 
plied, "God save us all ;" on which he most cowardly and cruelly assailed the de- 
fenceless General with his broad sword, and would have killed him upon the spot 
if he had not been prevented by the interference of an officer of more honor and 
humanity, (said to be Major Delancey of the dragoons,) who arrested his savage 
violence. 

The General was badly wounded in the head, and one of his arms was man- 
gled from the shoulder to the wrist. He was taken to Jamaica, where his wounds 
were dressed, and, with other prisoners, was confined there till the next day. He 
was then conveyed to Gravesend, and with about eighty other prisoners, (of which 
number Col. Robert Troup, of New- York, was one,) was confined on board a 
vessel which had been employed to transport live stock for the use of the army, 
and was without accommodations for health or comfort. The General was re- 
leased from the vessel on the remonstrance of an officer who had more hu- 
manity than his superiors, and removed to a house near the church in New 
Utrecht, where he was permitted to receive some attendance and medical assis- 
tance. A cut in the joint of the elbow rendered an amputation of the arm neces- 
sary. As soon as this was resolved on, the General sent for his wife, with a re- 
quest that she should bring with her all the money she had in her possession, and 
all she could procure ; which being complied with, he had it distributed among ihe 
American prisoners, to alleviate their sufferings — thus furnishing a lesson of hu- 
manity to his enemies, and closing a useful life by an act of charity. He then suf- 
fered the amputation, which soon issued in a mortification, which terminated his 
life September 20th, 1776, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He left only one 
child, who is now living on her paternal estate at Mastic, in Brookhaven, and is 
the widow of the late General John Smith, deceased. 

It is said that one of the battalions employed in this inglorious warfare against 
an unresisting individual was commanded by a Major Crew, a distant kins- 
man of the General ; and that when he came to be apprized of that fact, and of 
the circumstances of the case, he was so disgusted, that he either resigned his 
commission and quit the service, or obtained permission to leave the army and 



510 APPENDIX. 

return to England. All the transactions of that period bear the marks of inex- 
perience and improvidence, of precipitation and alarm. The talents of General 
Woodhull were peculiarly adapted to a military station. "With personal courage, 
he possessed judgment, decision, and firmness of character, tempered wit!, con- 
ciliating manners, which commanded the respect and obedience of his troo; •=, and 
at the same time secured their conBdence and esteem. 

His excellent wife, who had barely arrived soon enongh to attend him in his 
last moments, was permitted to remove his dead body, which was prepared for 
the purpose by the British surgeons. Painful as her feelings must have been while 
attending the mangled corse of her deceased husband and dearest friend, in its 
slow progress over a distance of seventy miles, she had the satisfaction of reflect- 
ing that it was out of the possession of the enemy, and the consolation of deposit- 
ing it on his own farm, amid the graves of his ancestors. The cruel treatment of 
this scallant ofTicer and ainent citizen aroused in every patriotic bosom feelings of 
indi'^nafion. Xor can the circumstances ever be recollected without admiring the 
lofty spirit which no extremity could bend to dishonor, nor without disdain and ab- 
horrence of a coward brutality, which vainly seeks ibr extenuation in the bitter 
animosities of the times. 

It is proper here to state, that the late Chief Justice Marshall, in the Biogra- 
phy of Washington, while narrating the disposition of the American forces imme- 
diately prior to the battle of Long Island, fought on the morning of the 27th of 
August, 1776, makes the following remark : " The canventian of J\'cv:-York had 
ordered General Woodhull, wilh the militia of Long Island, to take post on the 
high ground as near the enemy as vossible ; but he remained at Jamaica, and 
seemed scarcclu to suppose himself under the control of the regular officer com- 
manding on the Island." 

The unjust imputation contained in this short sentence, upon the Mell-known 
character and principles of General Woodhull, and its total variance from facts, 
make it obvious to every well-informed person that the learned historian was 
entirely unacquainted with what transpired on the occasion referred to, and had 
mistaken the circumstances attending the conduct and fate of the unfortunate 
Greneral. To remedy, as far as possible, the consequences of this erroneous state- 
ment, and rescue the memory of the noble martyr from the grave charge above 
mentioned, a communication was addressed to Judge Marshall, on the 13th of 
Feb. 1S34, by John L. Lawrence, Esq. containing a plain and candid relation of 
facts relative to the matter above mentioned ; and to which his Honor respond- 
ed in a manner which was to be expected from a great and generous mind, when 
convinced of an important error, unconsciously committed. The letter ;> as fol- 
lows : 

" Washington. Feb. 21st, 1834. 

" Sir : 

" Judge Edwards did me the favor to deliver yesterday evening your letter 
of the 13th, with the documents to which it refers. It is tome matter for deep 
concern and selt-reproach that the Biographer of Washington should, from what- 
ever cause, have mis-stated the part performed by any individual in the war of our 
revolution. Accuracy of detail ought to have been, and was, among my primary 
objects. If in any instance I have failed to attain this object, the lailure is the 
more lamented, if its consequence be the imputation of blame where praise was 
merited. 



APPENDIX. 511 

" The evidence with which you have furnished me, demonstrate that the small 
body of militia assembled near Jamaica, Long Island, in August, 177G, was not 
called out for the purpose of direct co-operation with the troops in Brooklyn, 
and was not placed by the convention under the officer commanding at that post. 
It is apparent that their particular object, after the British had landed on Long 
Island, was, to intercept the supplies they might draw from the country. It is 
apparent, also, that General WoodhuU joined them only a day or two before the 
battle ; and there is every reason to believe that he executed with inielligence and 
vigor the duty confided to him. I had supposed that the order to march to the 
western part of Clueen's County directed an approach to the enemy, and that 
the heights alluded to, were between Jamaica and Brooklyn, But 1 have not 
the papers which 1 read at the time from the publications then in my possession. 
I only recollect the impression they made, that General Woodhull was called 
into the field for the purpose of aiding the operations from Brooklyn ; and that 
General Washington, knowing the existence of this corps, had a right to count 
upon it in some slight degree, as guarding the road leading from Jamaica. In 
this I was mistaken ; and in this the mistake of which you complain originated. 

" I think, however, you misconstrue it ; no allusion is made to the number of 
the militia under his command, nor to any jealousy of the military officer com- 
manding at Brooklyn ; nor is it hinted that the convention had placed him un- 
der that officer. I rather infer that it appeared to me to be an additional exam- 
ple of the many inconveniences arising, in the early part of the war, from the 
disposition of the civil authorities to manage affairs belonging to the military 
department. 

" I wish much that I had possessed the information you have now given me. 
The whole statement would most probably hare been omitted, the fact not be- 
ing connected with the battle ; or, if introduced, have been essentially varied. 
"I am, with great respect, your obed't 

" John L. Lawrence, Esq. " J. MARSHALL." 

New-York." 



Correspondence between General Woodhull and the Convention. 

The capture of General Woodhull was one of the most calamitous events of 
the revolution. It deprived the country of the talents, the experience, and coun- 
sels of one of the ablest and most patriotic of her citizens. The cruel and das- 
tardly treatment of a prisoner, especially of his rank and character, after a 
peaceable surrender, roused a spirit of indignation in the breast of every hon- 
est and disinterested man. It contributed to alienate the affections of the people 
from a country whose ofScers were capable of such unprincipled barbarity, 
and to strengthen the determination of all ranks to adhere to the resolution then 
recently adopted by the continental congress and the convention of this state, 
to render the United States independent of her control. General Woodhull was 
as much distinguislied for his private and domestic virtues as for his zeal for the 
rights of his country, and was held in the highest estimation by all those who 
enjoyed his society, or had he pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with him. 
His death spread a gloom over Long Island— was universally lamented by the 
friends of freedom, to whom he was known, as well as by all those to whom he 



512 APPENDIX. 

was endeared by social relations; and while the revolution continues to be a 
subject of gratitude with the people of Long Island, his memory will be che- 
rished among their fondest recollections. 

August "25th, 1776, General Woodhull wrote to the convention. His letter 
cannot be found, but the contents may be inferred from the following answer : 

August 26th, 1776. 

Sir — Your's of yesterday is just come to hand, in answer to which we would 
inform you that Robert Townsend, the son of S<imuel Townsend, Esq., is ap- 
pointed commissary for the troops under your command, of which we hope you 
will give him the earliest notice; and tliut we have made application to Gene- 
ral Washington for the regiments under the command of Cols. Smith and Rem- 
sen to join you. He assured our committee that he would issue out orders im- 
mediately for that purpose, and we expect that they are upon the spot by this 
time. 

Confiding in your known prudence and zeal in the common cause, and wish- 
ing you the protection and blessing of heaven. 

We are, with respect, your very 

humble servants. 
By order, &c. ABRAHAM YATES, Jun. 

To Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull. 



Jamaica, August 21th, 1776, 
Gentlemen — 1 am now at Jamaica, with less than 100 men, having brought 
all the cattle from the westward and southward of the hills, and have sent them 
off with the troops of horse, with orders to take all the rest eastward of this 
place, to the eastward of Hempstead Plains, to put them into fields, and to set a 
guard over them. The enemy, I am informed, are entrenching southward, and 
from the heights near Howard's. I have now received yours, with several reso- 
lutions, which I wish it was in my power to put in execution ; but, unless Cols. 
Smith and Remsen, mentioned in yours, join me with their regiments, or some 
other assistance immediately, I shall not be able; for the people are all moving 
east, and I cannot get any assistance from them. 1 shall continue here as long 
as I can, in hopes of a reinforcement ; but if none comes soon, I shall retreat, 
and drive the stock before me into the woods. 

Cols. Smith and Remsen, I think, cannot join me. Unless you can send me 
some other assistance, I fear I shall soon be obliged to quit this place. I hope 
soon to hear from you. 

I am, gentlemen, your most humble serv't. 

NATHANIEL WOODHULL. 
To the Hon. Convention of 
the State of New- York. 



Westward of Queen^s County, August 21th, 1776. 
Gentlemen — Inclosed I send you a letter from Col. Potter, who left me yester- 
day at 11 o'clock, after bringing about 100 men to me at Jamaica. Major Smith, 
I expect, has all the rest that were to come from Suffolk County. There have 
about 40 of the militia joined me from the regiments in Clueen's County, and 



APPENDIX. 513 

about 50 of the troop belonging to King's and Clueen's counties, which is nearly 
all I expect. I have got all the cattle southward of the hills in King's County, 
to the eastward of the cross-road between the two counties, and have placed 
guards and sentinels from the north road to the south side of the island, in or- 
der to prevent the cattle's going back, and to prevent the communication of the 
Tories with the enemy. I, am within about six miles of the enemy's camp: their 
light horse have been within about two miles, and, unless I have more men, our 
stay iiare will answer no purpose. Wi shall soon want to be supplied with 
provisions, if we tarry here. 

I am, gentlemen, your most ob'dt. humble serv't. 

NATHANIEL WOODHULL. 
The Hon. Convention of New- 
York, at Harlaem. 



Jamaica, August 28/A, 1776. 
Gentlemen — I wrote two letters to you yesterday, one by express and another 
1 by Mr. Harper, and also sent my brigade-major to you, to let you know my 

situation, and I expected an answer to one of them last night ; but my express 
I informed me that he was detained till last night for an answer. 
I I have now received yours of the 26th, which is only a copy of the last, with- 
j out a single word of answer to my letter, or the message by my brigade-major. 

I must again let you know my situation. I have about 70 men and about 20 of 
j the troop, which is all the force I have or can expect, and 1 am daily growing 

less in number. The people are so alarmed in Suffolk, that they will not any 
I more of them march ; and as to Cols. Smith and Remsen, they cannot join me, 
I for the communication is cut off between us. I have sent about 1100 cattle to 
I the great fields on the plains yesterday. About 300 more have gone off this 
I morning to the same place, and I have ordered a guard of an officer and seven 
I privates. They can get no water in those fields. My men and horses are worn 
I out with fatigue. The cattle are not all gone off towards Hempstead. I order- 
i ed them off yesterday ; but they were not able to take them along. I yesterday 
I brought about 300 from Newtown. I think the cattle are in as much danger on 
I the north side as on the south side; and have ordered the inhabitants to remove 
j them, if you cannot send me an immediate reinforcement. 
j I am, &c. 

NATHANIEL WOODHULL. 

The Hon. Convention of 
New- York. 



Correspondence between the Convention and General Washington. 

Wednesday morning, Aug. 28<A, 1776. 

Sir — I am commanded by the convention to enclose to your Excellency the 

copy of a letter they received last evening from General Woodhull. The con- 

{ vention are of opinion that the enemy may be prevented from getting the stock 

and grain on Long Island if the regiments under the command of Col. Smith 

and Col. Remsen be sent to join Gen. Woodhull. That this junction may 

65 



514 APPENDIX. 

cifected, and how, Major Lawrence, who is a member of this convention and 
the bearer hereof, will inform your Excellency. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

Your Excellency's most obedient servant, 

By order, ABRAHAM YATES. 

His Excellency Gen. Washington. • 



Long Island, Aug. 28th, 1776. 
Sir — I was just now honored with your favor of this date, with General 
Woodhull's letter, and should esteem myself happy, were it in my power to af- 
ford the assistance required ; but the enemy having landed a considerable part of 
their force here, and at the same time may have reserved some to attack New- 
York, it is the opinion, not only of myself, but of all my general officers I have 
had an opportunity of consulting with, that the men we have are not more than 
competent to the defence of those lines, and the several posts which must be de- 
fended. This reason, and this alone, prevents my complying with your request. 
I shall beg leave to mention, in confidence, that a few days ago, upon the ene- 
my's first landing here, I wrote to Governor Trumbull, recommending him to 
throw over a body of 1000 men on the island to annoy the enemy in their rear, 
if the state of the colony would admit of it. Whether it will be done I cannot 
determine; That colony having furnished a large proportion of men, I was, 
and still am, doubtful whether it could be done. If it could, I am satisfied it 
will, from the zeal and readiness they have ever shown to give every possible 
succor, I am hopeful they will be in a condition to do it ; and if they are, 
those troops, I doubt not, will be ready and willing to give General Woodhull 
any assistance he may want. But cannot the militia effect what he wishes to 
do 1 They, I believe, must be depended on in the present instance for relief. 
I have the honor to be, in great haste. 

Sir, your most obedient servant, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
The Hon. Abraham Yates. 



Continuation of the correspondence by the Committee of Safety. 

King's Bridge, Aug. 30th, 1776. 
Sir — In our way to Fishkill, agreeable to an adjournment of the convention, 
we are informed that the army on Long Island is removed to the city of New- 
York; and anxiety to know the fact, as well as to be informed whether you 
think any measures necessary for us to take, induces us to trouble your Excel- 
lency at this time for an answer hereto. We have ordered, last night, all the 
militia of the counties of Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, and Westchester, to be 
ready, on a minute's warning, with five days' provisions. We shall wait the 
return of our messenger at this place, and are, 

Sir, your most obed't and very humble serv't. 

By order. ABRAHAM YATES, Jun. 

His Excellency Gen. Washington. 



APPENDIX. 515 

August ZOa, 1776, 
Sir— Your favor of this date is just come to hand. Circumstanced as this ar- 
my was, in respect to situation, strength, &c. it was the unanimous advice of a 
council of general officers to give up Long Island, and not, by dividing our 
force, be unable to resist the enemy in any one point of attack. This reason, 
added to some others, particularly the fear of having our communication cut off 
from the main, of which there seemed no small probability, and the extreme fa- 
tigue our troops were laid under in guarding such extensive lines without pro- 
per shelter from the weather, induced the above resolution. It is the most intri- 
cate thing in the world, Sir, to know in what manner to conduct one's self with 
respect to the militia. If you do not begin many days before they are wanted 
to raise them, you cannot have them in time. If you do, they get tired and re- 
turn, besides being under very little order or government, whilst in the service. 
However, if the enemy have a design of serving us at this place, as we appre- 
hend they meant to do on Long Island, it might not be improper to have a body 
in readiness, to prevent or retard a landing of them east of Harlaem river, if 
need be. In haste, and not a little fatigued, 

I remain, with great respect and esteem, 

Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
The Hon. Abraham Yatbs, Esq. 



j No. XI. 

I Of the Battle oj Long Island. 

After the commencement of hostilities in 1776, New- York being situated near 
j the centre of the colonial sea-board, and readily accessible from the sea, was se- 
lected by the enemy as a principal point for their future operations. With this 
I view, a first division of their army arrived at Staten Island in the latter part of 
I June of that year, followed, about the middle of July, by the grand armament 
i under Lord Howe, consisting of six ships of the line, thirty frigates, with small- 
I er armed vessels, and a great number of transports, victuallers, and ships with 
I ordinance. 

The Americans anticipating the invasion of Long Island, had fortified Brook- 
lyn before the arrival of the British at Staten Island. A line of intrenchment 
was formed from a ditch near the late Toll-House of the Bridge Company at 
the Navy-yard to Fort Green, then called Port Putnam, and from thence to Freek's 
mill-pond. A strong work was erected on the lands of Johannis Debevoice and 
of Van Brunt ; a redoubt was thrown up on Baemus' Hill opposite Brown's mill, 
and another on the land of John Johnson, west of Fort Green. Ponkiesberg, 
now Fort Swift, was fortified, and a fort built on the land of Mr. Hicks on 
Brooklyn Heights. Such were the defences of Brooklyn in 1776, while a chevaux 
defrise was sunk in the main channel of the river below New- York. The troops 
of both divisions of the British army were landed on Staten Island after their 
arrival in the bay, to recruit their strength and prepare for the coming conflict. 
It was not till the middle of August, that a first landing on Long Island was 
made by them at New Utrecht. Here they were joined by many royalists from 
the neighborhood, who probably acted the imfamous part of informers and guides 



616 

to the enenrv- General Sir Henrv Clinton am^ed aaout the iame :ime. with 
tile traops re-<:ondactea from liie espediiion to Charieaion. ' 

Camniodai.'e Hotham already appeared there with the reinfbrcenients ander 
his escort ; so that ui a shir - iostile ■ ' 3 alioiK cwenty- 

&ur Loousand men; ELngiiaii, t. ^. and Vv . ;ai regnneota of 

"Sftmaaan infiuitxy Were expected :e strrrve ^untly, when the army wculd be swdt- 
ed to the number " . " : combatants, of die beat iroopB of Europe. 

ail abundantly sii- : . . ammanition, ana maoifesunic an exareme 

ardtr ff)r the servicsof their king. The pian wae, first la jet posaesaon of Sew- 
Yark, which was aeemed of most -jsaeniiai jnp<jrtance. Then, if General Carie- 
ton, liter ha^in^i: passed, aa was aopeu, :lie .aiiea of Canada, could penetrate uj 
the banks at the Hudson, and descend this river at the same ame that. General 
Howe should a-scend i, their junction would have the immeajate effect af LDter- 
rupting all communication between tae provinces of ^ew-Eiiiland, on '.he .ed 
bank, and Lhose of the middle and souUi upon the njiht. While 'jenerai Howe 
was seconded in his invasion of iSew-Tork oy the Lweive or thirteen tihuisind 
men coming from Canada tinder Governor Carieion, General Clinton was to 
operate in the provinces of the south, and -a attack Cbaneaon. The Amercan 
troops being thos divided, and their generals surpri^sl and pre^wd on so many 
sdes at once, it was not doubted but that the British arms would soon obtain a 
complete triumph. But, m executing diis desgn. they aad counted too much on 
art admirable coaeurrence of a great number of parts, and had aot takoi into ac- 
cou ' " " d ant arrive 

unt. . The array 

m. Canada was entirely interrapted at the lakes. It was still, however, confidem- 
ly expected that General Howe would be ahi^ alone to make a deeiave cam- 
paign. 

To rfisst this impending aorm. Con guess had ordained the cansmcuan of rafls, 
g'tn-bodts. jaileys, md doating battenes, for the defence of the pun of i5ew- 
York and tae mamh of the Hudson. They had also decreed titat :nirteen uiou- 
san d of the pnjvmciai auiitia should join the army 01 Wasiungtcn. who. 
heing seasonahly apprized of the danger of iXew-York, had made a in 
yaSa liiat quarter; Jiey also directed tne organization of a corps of ten 
men, destined to serve as a reserve in the provinces of the ':«ntre. Ail :.. 
est posts had been carefully intrenched, ana mmished with aniUery. A. strong 
detachment ■jccupied Long Island, uj prevpin. die English Srrai ianding tOere. or 
to repulse ihem if they saouid ■;&« a aeoarkation. But the anny if Coneress 
was very ^ Sxnn having all the neces^Ry means to aopport the burden of so 
tEtrifaie a war. It wanted arms. r-ases> The raierated 

iaecances of the commander-in-o... : :mc the miiitia of the 

aeighbonng provinces, and some regular regunents tram Ailaryiaou, from Penn- 
sylvuniar a. ' ^ ~ ^ . which haa : :\x aauf ta tim aaadter <ii 

t'wenty-sev>^ . .l ifourUi of ' jps vos oaBpnai of Ji- 

Talids, and scarcely was anotiier imnh mmished with arm&. 

The Amerj^n army, such as is. was, iccupieo tne poiauons most suitable jj 
server tne menocea pamts. The corps winca nad been stadooed on Long Isiana, 
^ms (SKoautadsii !)▼ Ma^' ^r^Geaerai Greene, woo, on acooant ofacknrrn, «as ai- 
;Br«aais auccradad J? <VinBrai Saiiiv&a^ The mam. body af tne acny 



mk an the '.s ~~~ ~' Z^ew-Tars, vhicii. it appeuot, was **— ■'"■f m receive tti» 

Ttrn reene aetaEdmems z^arded Garemor 3 Isand and tiie point of Fanioar 

ton. were pane^ Bp—:tfc»t— tgafthaShiM^ ■fciiwi ilii j' ocgapied Uie tmmCbt^- 
lers^ Eaa and W^s. ano '2tew B i wLtwile For it vas looe feared ihas. the enenrr. 
Jmoing .n zvna upam thtmattt. ^ <and, oneitt peneirate ur K:ne»- 

bnasB, and :mweatireiv lackup _; - ..-a troops on tbe isiand or 2Sew- 

Xarit. Lord Howe made sobk ar^rtares or* p&ux apon lexms at sabmisston 'jo 
tfae-rarai deuwDcy. vuicii. laa^ia^ m notiuns, decried lOe Briusa General :o 
attack Lon? Isiand. '^ ^ceatiiBt^r,'' aays Boua. '' on die rwenty second of 
.Aflfrna. uie deei approasiiHi tlie yarrmrs .- ail ine traons roond an easy and se- 
coie landing- piace b c twaca the villagies of GcaTesend and ^iew-UtrecitL. wdere 
tiiey <iebarsaa wiibamt awRting any imiinim on Uie p^ at :he Amencai]& A 
great part of ;ae Ana.iiwMi amy. mafcr tker «aaaBBnl«f General Putnam, en- 
camped at Brookiyn in a pan of dae iaand iiseif whidi mnns a son of peninaa- 
ia. Fie had srongiy fbrtined tbe entrance at it with moats and intrenciunems : 
Ins lea wins rested apon tiie Wailabmmi Bay. and his tight was eoYered by a 
manii eontisnous xo Gatmatmr Cowe. Behind him be had Govonors Faiand, 
an^tliB ar ih w [*u lai i Laa^Uaad mnn the i^anu ~~ v. 

Tori^ an i a dinet ■■■"•—"'■initi i m wuh tiie city, „e 

•tiier paK of the army was atationed unifer Waainn^lton himself. Tbe oum- 
mander-in-:hi^ 7aute was appmariiinscPMiinian"- 3 

men -o ieep ;i.c.. ._ ...^ ...xamon ail their eoora^: bereniit--. ..t 

in their ^aior restea the only hope taai remained :o American liberty. .1 

their resistance iepended iie preservation or the pillaee 01 :neir property ay oar- 
banans: tnat .ney were about to oraibat in de^enea of their parents, tiieir wives, 
and tiieir ^nildren. irom .ne antrages of a lieeadaas —Idi ery: that tiie eyes of 
Amoica were ixed upon her champion^ aid espeeted mmi their ngrrna on tiiis 

. - — . :a>i their boafin^ manhed rapildly forward. The 

two arrmes were acparat a d by a chain of hiilsr eo v «u e d with waod& called the 
heights, and which, nnming fi^. - ^arts. 

Tbey are only practicable apoc -ows, 

the road l^uiine to that of the esitre passes tiie Tillage o{ F'tatt/tuk. and the third 
isappsnehed. ' -nte of ^ ^naUands. 

ITpoB the sBir. -_ . i road, ^ .-. -Zth of the 

range, and l^ids trom Bedford to Jamaica, which is in t rr. ' wrtr ri by the two roads 
ItBt c these ways are ail Lnterrapted by precipiGes. and by excessively 

fTJffir'... ^..„ .drrow denies. 

The American general, wishing to arrest the enemy apon these heights, had 
carefiitly . ".hem with '.roops ; so that, ;f ail had done their duty, the En- 

glish wouiu j<ji. aafc been able to force tiie passages wiihsiK ' * * "' - ™ ° tjiflS^o^ty 
and danger. The posts were so fiequent apon tiie road nooi BiudSiiiftv Jaenmfty 
that it was easy to trananit, ftnm one of these points to the other, the most 
p- ~ ' .-ence of whu passed apon the three rontes. Colonel Miles, with 

h. vas to gnard tiie road of Flatland, and to scoar 11 continoally with 

MssbbMb^ as well as tiiat of Jamaica, in order tn reconnoitre tbe movemaaKof 
tfae cBGiay. Bfaaowhile tiv BiiCiaii army pressed iui waul, its left wing bang to 



518 APPENDIX. 

the north and its right to the south ; the villaze of Flatbnsh -was found in its 
centre. The Hessians, commanded bv Greneral Heister, formed ihe main body ; 
the English, nnder Major-general Grant, the left ; and other corps, conducted by 
Greneral Clinton, and the two lords, Percy and Comwallis. composed the righc 
In this wing the British genereils had placed their principal hope of success ; 
they directed it upon Flatland. Their plan was. that while the corps of Greneral 
Grant, and the Hessians of Greneral Heister, should disquiet the enemy upon the 
two first defiles, the left wing, taking a circuit, should march through Flatland, 
and endeavor to seize the point of intersection of this road with that of Jameiica ; 
and then rapidly descending into the plain which extends at the foot of the heights 
upon the other side, should fall upon the Americans in flank and rear. The En- 
glish hoped, that as this post was the most distant from the centre of the army, 
the advanced guards would be found more feeble there, and perhaps more negli- 
•rent : fineillv. they calculated that, in all events, the Americans would not be 
able to defend it against a force so superior. This right wing of the English 
was the most numerous, and entirely composed of select troops. 

The evening of the twenty-siith of August, General Clinton commjinded the 
vanguard, which consisted in light infantry : Lord Percy the centre, where were 
found the grenadiers, the artillery, and the cavalry : and Comwallis, the rear- 
guard, followed by the baggage, some regiments of infantry and of heavy artil- 
lery ; all this part of the English army put itself in motion with admirable order 
and silence, and leaving Flatland. traversed the country called ^few Lots. Co- 
lonel Miles, who this night perfomed his service with little exactness, did not per- 
ceive the approach of the enemy ; so that two hours before day the English were 
already arrived within a half mile of the road to Jamaica, upon the heights. 
Then Greneral Clinton halted, and prepared himself for the attack. He had met 
one of the enemy's patrob, and made him prisoner. General Sullivan, who com- 
manded all the troops in advance of the camp of Brooklyn, had no advice of what 
passed in this quarter. He neglected to send out fresh scouts ; perhaps he sup- 
posed the English would direct their principal efforts against his right wing, as 
being the nearest to them. 

General Clinton, learning firom his prisoners that the road to Jamaica was not 
guarded, hastened to availhimself of the circumstance, and occupied it by a rapid 
movement. "Without loss of time he immediately bore to his left towards Bed- 
ford, and seized an important defile, which the American generals had left un- 
guarded. From this moment the success of the day was decided in favor of the 
English. Lord Percy came up with his corps ; and the entire column descended 
by the village of Bedford from the heights into the plain which lay between the 
hills and the camp of the Americans. During this time General Grant, in order 
to amuse the enemy, and divert his attention from the events which took place 
upon the route of Flatland, endeavored to disquiet him upon his right: accord- 
dingly, as if he intended to force the defile which led to it, he had put himself in 
motion about midnight, and had attacked the militia of New-York and of Penn- 
sylvania, who guarded it. They at firs: gave ground : but General Parsons be- 
ing arrived, and having occupied an eminence, he renewed the combat, and main- 
tained his position till Brigadier-general Lord Stirling came to his assistance 
with fifteen hundred men. The action became extremely animated, and fortune 
favored neither the one side nor the other. The Hessians, on their part, had at< 
tacked the centre at break of day ; and the Americans, commanded by General 



APPEXDIX. 519 



Solfvam m penoa, vaEaatff jliiwil that cAn.s. Ai tke som tine the Eb- 
glishshy«,«fierhaTingin«ie«wgra!»oiu«i«lJ»i,«penBd>Terybridg«iniKMMide 
agminaa battezyestablishedmtheliakidaiidof Bed Hook, upon the ligiw Sank 
oitheAawneaBs, vhaeoMbaled against Gcnoal Giant. This also vas a direr- 
SM», the o^ect of vfaieh was tapRTcat then ficooi acteadins to what passed in the 
centre and oa the IdL The AaMiicaas dtfca d tjd theaiselTes, hom-eret; with ex- 
trene gallantry, igaocaat thtt so aoch Talar was exerted in vain, sinee Tictoiy 
was already in the hands ai the eaeay. CSeaenl Climsa being d esBe a d e d into 
the piaia, 6M npoa the left flank ot the eeatre, whkh was eagaged with the Hes- 
He had pRvionstydetaAed a snail corps, in onkr to intercqic the Ame- 



As aeoa as the a pp e w a aee af the Engtis h li^ infcntiy apptiaad themof thdr 
danger, they sooaded the letreax, and retind in good ofder towaids their eamp, 
hiinging off their aitiOay. Bat they sooa idl in with the pany of royal troops 
whieh had oeoqiied the grooad oa theb rear, and who now charged them 'vriih 
finy ; th^ were CTnnpelled to throw themwHca into the neighbcKing woods, 
where thcTf met again with the Hewian^, who lepidsed them npoa the Knglish ; 
and thas the Amerieans were drivea several times by the our agauiss the other 
with great loss. Tiny eontiaoed for sane time in this desperate sitoataoa, till 
as kagth sereral regimeats, animated by an hennc valor, craned their way 
throogh the midst of the oiemy, and gained the caa^ (rf'Gcaeial Potaam ; others 
escaped throogh the woods. The iaeqaality of the gronnd, the great nombers of 
poshioait which it ofieted, and the dinnkr which prevailed th iuu ghom the line, 
were the cause that fcr several hoars divers partial co mb a ts were maintaiasd, in 
which many of the Ameiic^m IdL 

Their left wing aad oeatre being disooaifited, the Knglish, desiroos of a coai- 
plete victoiy, made a n{ad movemeat against the tear of the light wing, whidi, 
in igaoraace of the misfcrtaae which had hr&llea the other ooips, was engaged 
with GSeaeral Grant. FiaaBy, having received the intefl^enoe, they retired. 
Bat, eacoamefing the English, who cot ftffthor retreat, a part of the soldiers took 
shelter in the woods ; others endeavored to make their way throogh the aiardies 
of CSewan's Cove; hi* hoe maay were drowned in the waters or pmshfd in 
the mod ; a very autH anrnhir only e s cape d the hot parsuil of the vietots, and 
reached the eamp in safety. The total kws of the Anwrinaae, in this battle, was 
rffft™***^ at more than three thoosand moi in kiDed, woonded, and prisoners. 
Amoag the last weve feoad CSeaexal Sullivan, aad Brigadier-general Land Stir- 
ling. Ahnont the entire regimeat of Maiylaad, eoasiating of yoong men of the 
best fiunilies in that province, was cat to pieces. Six pieces of fainaon fell into 
the power <tf the victors. The kas of the KagHsh was very ineoasideraMe; in 
kiDed, wounded, and prismas, it did not amnant to fbnr hun dred awa. 

The eaemy encamped in front of the Amreriean lines; and on the saoeeeding 
night broke groond within six h a n dl e d yards of a redoubt on the left, and threw 
ay a bceast-woitfba the Walafaoal heigkls, iqion the Debevoioe £uai, < 
inng on Foit Putnam, and reeaanmtred the Americaaflnces. The. 
were here prepared to reodve them; aad orders issaed to the mea to reserve their 
Are tS they could see die ejes of the enemy. A few of the British (rfBcers re- 
connoitred the position, and one, on coming near, was shot by William Van 
Cotts, of Bushwiek. The same afkernooa Captain Rutgers, Isother of the lale 
Colond Rmgers, also fefl. Several ether Britidi troops were kiDed, and the eo- 



620 APPENDIX. 

lumn which had incautiously advanced, fell back beyond the range of the Ame- 
rican fire. In this critical state of the American army on Long Island ; in front 
a numerous and victorious enemy with a formidable train of artillery, the fleet 
indicating an intention of forcing a passage up the East River ; the troops lying 
without shelter from heavy rains, fatigued and dispirited. General Washington 
determined to withdraw the army from the island ; and this difficult movement 
was effected with great skill and judgment, and with complete success. The re- 
treat was to have commenced at eight o'clock in the evening of the 29th, but a 
strong north-east wind and a rapid tide caused a delay of several hours; a south- 
west wind springing up at eleven, essentially facilitated it passage from the is- 
land to the city ; and a thick fog hanging over Long Island toward morning, 
concealed its movements from the enemy, who were so near that the sound of 
their pick-axes and shovels were distinctly heard by the Americans. General 
Washington, as far as possible, inspected every thing from the commencement of 
the action on the morning of the '27th; till the troops were safely across the river, 
he never closed his eyes, and was almost constantly on horseback. After this 
the British and their allies, the Tories and refugees, had possession of Long Is- 
land; and many distressing scenes occurred, wliich were never made public, and 
can therefore never be known. The Whigs, who had been at all active in behalf 
of independence, were exiled from their homes, and their dwellings were objects 
of indiscriminate plunder. Such as could be taken, were incarcerated in the 
church of New Utrecht and Flatlands ; while royalists, by wearing a red badge 
in their hats, were protected and encouraged. It is believed that had Lord Howe 
availed himself of the advantages he possessed by passing his ships up the river 
between Brooklyn and New-York, the whole American army must have been 
almost inevitably captured or annihilated. General Washington saw but too 
plainly the policy which might have been pursued, and wisely resolved rather to 
abandon the island than attempt to retain it at the risk of sacrificing his 
army. 

The unfortunate issue of the battle of Long Island was doubtless to be as- 
cribed, in part, to the illness of General Greene. He had superintended the erec- 
tion of the works, and become thoroughly acquainted with the ground. In the 
hope of his recovery, Washington deferred sending over a successor till the ur- 
gency of affairs made it absolutely necessary : and then General Putnam took 
the command, without any previous knowledge of the posts which had been 
fortified beyond the lines, or of the places by which the enemy could make their 
approach ; nor had he tim.e to acquire this knowledge before the action. The 
consequence was, that, although he was the commander on the day of the bat- 
tle, he never went beyond the lines at Brooklyn ; and could give no other orders 
than for sending out troops to meet the enemy at different points. The follow- 
ing is a letter to congress, describing the events of the day, by Colonel Harri- 
son, secretary to the commander-in-chief. 

New- York, 8 o'clock P. M: 

27 2\ug. 1776. 
Sir: 

I this minute returned from our lines on Long Island, where I left his 

Excellency the General. From him I have it in command to inform congress, 

that yesterday he went there, and continued till evening, when, from the enemy's 

having landed a considerable part of their forces, and from many of their move- 



APPENDIX. 521 

ments, there ^vas reason to apprehend they would make in a little time a general 
attack. As they would have a wood to pass through before they could approach 
the lines, it was thought expedient to place a nmiiber of men there on the differ- 
ent roads leading from where they were stationed, in order to harass and an- 
noy them in their march.. This being done, early this morning a smart engage- 
ment ensued between the enemy and our detachments, which, being unequal to 
the force they had to contend with, have sustained a considerable loss ; at least 
many of our men are missing. Among those that have not returned are Ge- 
neral Sullivan and Lord Stirling. The enemy's loss is not known certainly ; 
but we are told by such of our troops as were in the engagement, and have come 
in, that they had many killed and wounded. Oar party brought off a lieute- 
nant, sergeant, and corporal, with twenty privates, prisoners. 

While these detachments were engaged, a column of the enemy descended 
from the woods, and marched towards the centre of our lines with a design to 
make an impression, but were repulsed. This evening they appeared very nu- 
merous about the skirts of the woods, where they have pitched several tents; 
and his Excellency inclines to think they mean to attack and force us from our 
lines by way of regular approaches, rather than in any other manner. To-day 
five ships of the line came up towards the town, where they seemed desirous of 
getting, as they turned a long time against an unfavorable wind; and, on my 
return this evening, f found a deserter from the twenty-third regiment, who in- 
formed me that they design, as soon as the wind will permit them to come up, 
to give us a severe cannonade, and to silence our batteries if possible. I have 
the honor to be, in great haste, Sir, your most obedient. 

Robert H. Harrison. 

As the two Generals, who commanded in the engagement, were taken prison- 
ers, no detailed official account of the action was ever reported to the Command- 
er-in-chief The following letter from Lord Stirling, and extracts from Ge- 
neral Sullivan's, contain a few particulars not hitherto published. Lord Stirling 
was a prisoner on board Lord Howe's ship when he wrote. 

Lord Stirling to General Washington. 

Eagle, 29 August, 1776, 
My Dear General, 

I have now an opportunity of informing you of what has happened to me 
since I had the pleasure of seeing you. About three o'clock in the morning of 
the 27th, I was called up, and informed by General Putnam that the enemy 
were advancing by the road from Flatbush to the Red Lion, and he ordered me 
to march with the two regiments nearest at hand to meet them. These happen- 
ed to be Haslet's and Smallwood's, with which I accordingly marched, and was 
on the road to the Narrows just as the daylight began to appear. We pro- 
ceeded to within about half a mile of the Red Lion, and there met Colonel Al- 
ice with his regiment, who informed me that the enemy were in sight; indeed, I 
then saw their front between us and the Red Lion. I desired Colonel Atlee to 
place his regiment on the left of the road, and to wait their coming up ; while I 
went to form the two regiments I had brought with me along a ridge from the 
road up to a piece of wood on the top of the hill. This was done instantly on 
very advantageous ground, 

66 



620 APPENDIX. 

lumn which had incautiously advanced, fell back beyond the range of the Ame- 
rican fire. In this critical state of the American army on Long Island ; in front 
a numerous and victorious enemy with a formidable train of artillery, the fleet 
indicating an intention of forcing a passage up the East River ; the troops lying 
without shelter from heavy rains, fatigued and dispirited, General Washington 
determined to withdraw the army from the island ; and this difficult movement 
was effected with great skill and judgment, and with complete success. The re- 
treat was to have commenced at eight o'clock in the evening of the 29th, but a 
strong north-east wind and a rapid tide caused a delay of several hours; a south- 
west wind springing up at eleven, essentially facilitated it passage from the is- 
land to the city ; and a thick fog hanging over Long Island toward morning, 
concealed its movements from the enemy, who were so near that the sound of 
their pick-axes and shovels were distinctly heard by the Americans. General 
Washington, as far as possible, inspected every thing from the commencement of 
the action on the morning of the 27th; till the troops were safely across the river, 
he never closed his ej'es, and was almost constantly on horseback. After this 
the British and their allies, the Tories and refugees, had possession of Long Is- 
land; and many distressing scenes occurred, wnich were never made public, and 
can therefore never be known. The Whigs, who had been at all active in behalf 
of independence, were exiled from their homes, and their dwellings were objects 
of indiscriminate plunder. Such as could be taken, were incarcerated in the 
church of New Utrecht and Flatlands ; while royalists, by wearing a red badge 
in their hats, were protected and encouraged. It is believed that had Lord Howe 
availed himself of the advantages he possessed by passing his ships up the river 
between Brooklyn and New-York, the whole American army must have been 
almost inevitably captured or annihilated. General Washington saw but too 
plainly the policy which might have been pursued, and wisely resolved rather to 
abandon the island than attempt to retain it at the risk of sacrificing his 
army. 

The unfortunate issue of the battle of Long Island was doubtless to be as- 
cribed, in part, to the illness of General Greene. He had superintended the erec- 
tion of the works, and become thoroughly acquainted with the ground. In the 
hope of his recovery, Washington deferred sending over a successor till the ur- 
gency of affairs made it absolutely necessary : and then General Putnam took 
the command, without any previous knowledge of the posts which had been 
fortified beyond the lines, or of the places by which the enemy could make their 
approach ; nor had he time to acquire this knowledge before the action. The 
consequence was, that, although he was the commander on the day of the bat- 
tle, he never went beyond the lines at Brooklyn ; and could give no other orders 
than for sending out troops to meet the enemy at different points. The follow- 
ing is a letter to congress, describing the events of the day, by Colonel Harri- 
son, secretary to the commander-in-chief 

New-York, 8 o'clock P. M; 

27 Aug. 1776. 
Sir: 

I this minute returned from our lines on Long Island, where I left his 

Excellency the General. From him I have it in command to inform congress, 

that yesterday he went there, and continued till evening, when, from the enemy's 

having landed a considerable part of their forces, and from many of their move- 



APPENDIX. 521 

menls, there was reason to apprehend they would make in a little time a general 
attack. As they would have a wood to pass through before they could approach 
the lines, it was thought expedient to place a number of men there on the differ- 
ent roads leading from where they were stationed, in order to harass and an- 
noy them in their mardi. This being done, early this morning a smart engage- 
ment ensued between the enemy and our detachments, which, being unequal to 
the force they had to contend with, have sustained a considerable loss ; at least 
many of our men are missing. Among those that have not returned are Ge- 
neral Sullivan and Lord Stirling. The enemy's loss is not known certainly ; 
but we are told by such of our troops as were in the engagement, and have come 
in, that they had many killed and wounded. Our party brought off a lieute- 
nant, sergeant, and corporal, with twenty privates, prisoners. 

While these detachments were engaged, a column of the enemy descended 
from the woods, and marched towards the centre of our lines with a design to 
make an impression, but were repulsed. This evening they appeared very nu- 
merous about the skirts of the woods, where they have pitched several tents; 
and his Excellency inclines to think they mean to attack and force us from our 
lines by way of regular approaches, rather than in any other manner. To-day 
five ships of the line came up towards the town, where they seemed desirous of 
getting, as they turned a long time against an unfavorable wind; and, on my 
return this evening, I found a deserter from the twenty-third regiment, who in- 
formed me that they design, as soon as the wind will peimit them to come up, 
to give us a severe cannonade, and to silence our batteries if possible. I have 
the honor to be, in great haste, Sir, your most obedient. 

Robert II. Harrison. 

As the two Generals, who commanded in the engagement, were taken prison- 
ers, no detailed official account of the action was ever reported to the Command- 
er-in-chief. The following letter from Lord Stirling, and extracts from Ge- 
neral Sullivan's, contain a few particulars not hitherto published. Lord Stirling 
was a prisoner on board Lord Howe's ship when he wrote^ 

Lord Stirling to General Washington. 

Eagle, 29 August, 1775. 
My Dear General, 

I have now an opportunity of informing you of what has happened to me 
since I had the pleasure of seeing you. About three o'clock in the morning of 
the 27th, I was called up, and informed by General Putnam that the enemy 
were advancing by the road from Flatbush to the Red Lion, and he ordered me 
to march with the two regiments nearest at hand to meet them. These happen- 
ed to be Haslet's and Smallwood's, with which I accordingly marched, and was 
on the road to the Narrows just as the daylight began to appear. We pro- 
ceeded to within about half a mile of the Red Lion, and there met Colonel At- 
lee with his regiment, who informed me that the enemy were in sight; indeed, I 
then saw their front between us and the Red Lion. I desired Colonel Atlee to 
place his regiment on the left of the road, and to wait their coming up ; while I 
went to form the two regiments I had brought with me along a ridge from the 
road up to a piece of wood on the top of the hill. This was done instantly o» 
very advantageous ground. 

66 



524 APPENDIX. 

to send some one competent to the task into tlic heart of the enemy's camp, and 
Colonel Knowlton was charged with the selection of an individual to perform 
the delicate and hazardous service. On being informed of the views and wishes 
of Washington, Hale, without hesitation, volunteered his services, saying that he 
did not accept a commission for fame alone ; that he had been some time in the 
army without being able thus far to render any signal aid to his country ; and 
that he now felt impelled, by high considerations of duty, to peril his life in a 
cause of so vital importance when an opportunity presented itself of being use- 
ful. The arguments of his friends were unavailing to dissuade him from 
the undertaking; and having disguised himself as well as he could, he left 
his quarters at Harlaem Heights, and having an order from the commander-in- 
chief to all the American armed vessels to convey him to any point which he 
should designate, he was enabled to cross the Sound from Fairfield to Long 
Island, andarrived atHuntington about the middle of September, 177G. "When he 
reached Brooklyn, the British army had taken possession of New-York. He 
examined with the utmost caution the fortifications of the enemy, and ascertained 
as far as possible their number, position, and future intentions ; and having satis- 
factorily accomplished the objects of his mission, he again reached Huntington 
for the purpose of re-crossing the Sound. While waiting for a passage, a boat 
came on shore, which he at first supposed to be from Connecticut, but proved to 
be from a British vessel, the Cerberus, lying in the Sound; and on board this 
boat, it is said, was a relative of Capt. Hale, a Tory refugee, who recognized and 
betrayed him. He had assumed a character which did belong to him, that of 
pretending to be what he was not. That he was a spy, could no longer be con- 
cealed, and he was immediately sent to General Howe at New-York. Here the 
parallel between his case and that of Andre ceases. The latter was allowed 
time and an impartial trial before officers of honorable rank and character, and 
his last moments were soothed by tenderness and sympathy. Not so ^\ ith the 
former ; he was delivered into the possession of the infamous provost-martial, 
Cunningham, and ordered immediately for execution, without even the formality 
of a trial. The order was performed in a brutal manner on the twenty-first of 
September, 1776, and his body was buried on the spot where he breathed his last. 
He was, indeetl, permitted to consecrate a few previous moments in writing to his 
family^ but as soon as the work of death was done, even this testimony of affec- 
tion and patriotism was destroyed, assigning as the cause, " thai the rebels should 
never k)i&w they had a nian in their army who could die with such firmness." In 
this trying hour the use of a bible and the attendance of a minister, which he de- 
sired, were also denied him. Thus unknown to those around him, with no eye 
to pity, or a voice to administer consolation, fell one of the most noble and amiable 
youths which Amerisa could boast; with this his dying observation, "that he 
onlti lamented he had but one life to lose for his country." Though the manner of 
his execution will be abhorred by every friend of humanity, yet there cannot be 
a question but that the sentence of death was conformable to the practice of all 
civilized nations. It is, however, but common justice to the character of Captain 
Hale to state, that his motives for engaging in this service were entirely different 
from those which sometimes influence others in like cases. Neither expectation 
of promotion or pecuniary reward induced the attempt. A high sense of public 
duty and a hope of being in this way useful to his country, and the opinion 
which he had adopted, that every kind of service became honorable by being ne- 



APPENDIX. 525 

essary, were the motives which prompted him to this hazardous, and, to him, 
ital enterprise. To see such an one, in the bloom of youth, influenced by the 
lurest intentions, and emulous of doing good to his beloved country, fall a victim 
3 the policy of nations, must have been wounding even to the feelings of his 
memies. 

Among other causes of distress in 1776, the want of provisions and clothing 
iras severely felt by the American army. Just previous to the battle of Long 
sland it was ascertained that an Erglish sloop, with supplies of these essential 
rticles, had arrived in the East River, and lay there under the protection of the 
hip Asia, of ninety guns. Captain Hale conceived the bold project of capturing 
lis sloop, and bringing her into the port of New-York, and found a sufficient 
umber of bold hearts and stout hands to make the attempt. At an hour con- 
erted they passed in a boat to a point of land nearest the sloop, where they lay 
.11 the moon was down ; and when all was quiet, except the voice of the watch- 
lan on the quarter-deck of the Asia, they pulled for the sloop, and in a few mi- 
utes were on board. She became their prize, and the goods were distributed to 
hose who needed them in our army. 

The father of Captain Hale was born September 28, 1717, and died June 1> 
802 ; having been a magistrate many years, and several times a representative 
•om Coventry to the state legislature. He had twelve children. John Hale, 
ne of his sons, held the commission of major in the militia of Connecticut, and 
i^as frequently a representative in the assembly. He died December 18, 1802. 
)avid Hale, another son, was for some years a judge of the county court; and 
lie Rev. Enoch Hale of Westhampton Massachusetts, another son, was a per- 
on of extraordinary abilities, and held in high estimation by the clergymen of 
^ew England. 

A meeting of the citizens of Coventry and the neighboring towns was held 
n the 25th of November, 1836, at which a society was formed called the Hale 
VioNUMENT Association ; for the purpose of taking measures to erect a suitable 
lemorial to the memory of the subject of this notice. An eloquent address was 
elivered on the occasion, by Andrew T. Judson, Esq., to whom we are in- 
iebted for much of the information contained in this brief memoir. 

The following poetical tribute to the lamented Hale is from the pen of the late 
'resident D wight: 

" Thus, while fond virtue wished in vain to save. 
Hale, bright and generous, found a hapless grave ; 
With genius' living flame his bosom glow'd. 
And science charmed him to her sweet abode; 
In worth's fair path, adventured far, 
lYiQ pride of peace, and rising grace of war." 

As yet no monument has been erected, nor have his ashes ever been recovered. 
^ select committee of congress, on the 19th of January, 1836, recommended an 
ippropriation of one thousand dollars from the treasury of the United States to- 
vards carrying the object into effect; but no action was ever had upon it after- 
vards, and it is much to be feared so praiseworthy a design will be suffered to 
ileep, perhaps for ever. 



526 APPENDIX. 



No. XII. 



Recollections of Brooklyn and New- York in 1776. 
{^Communicated to the Editor of the Jfaval Magazine, by General Jeremiah John- 
son.) 

The enterprising whale-boat privateers-men of our country deserve our notice, 
although their acts of robbery are censurable. Captains Hyler and Marriner 
of New Brunswick annoyed the British troops so much, that an armed force 
was sent to that place to destroy their boats. The object was effected, but the 
cost was more than it was worth. New boats were immediately built. 

Hyler and Marriner cruised between Egg-Harbor and Staten Island. Hyler 
took several ships, and levied contributions on the New-York fishermen on the 
fishing-banks. He frequently visited Long Island. He took a Hessian major 
at night from the house of Michael Bergen, at Gowanus, when his soldiers were 
encamped near the house. He surprised and took a sergeant's guard at Canau- 
sie, from the house of their captain, Schenck. The guards were at supper, and 
their muskets standing in the hall, when Hyler enlered with his men. He seized 
the arms, and, after jesting with the guard, he borrowed the silver spoons for his 
family ; took a few other articles with all the muskets, and made one prisoner. 
He sent the guard to report themselves to Colonel Axtell, and returned to New 
Jersey. 

Capt. Hyler also paid a visit to Colonel Lett at Flatlands. The colonel was 
known to be rich; his money and his person were the objects desired. He was 
surprised in his house at night, and taken. His cupboard was searched for money. 
and some silver found ; and, on further search, two bags supposed to contain 
guineas, were discoveed. These, with the silver, the colonel and two of his ne- 
groes, were embaiked, and taken to New Brunswick. In the morning, on the 
passage up the Raritan, the captain and crew agreed to count and divide the 
guineas. The bags were opened, when, to the mortification of the crew, they 
found the bags contained only half-pennies belonging to tlie church of Flatlands ; 
and the colonel also discovered that his guineas were safe at home. The crew 
were disappointed in their Scotch prize. They, however, determined to make 
the most of the adventure; they took the colonel and his negroes to New 
Brunswick, where they compelled him to ransom his negroes, and then permit- 
ted him to return home on parole. 

Captain Hyler also, with two boats, took a corvette of twenty guns, about 
nine o'clock at night in Coney Island Bay. The ship lay at anchor, bound for 
Halifax, to complete her crew. The night was dark; one of the boats, with 
muffled oars, was rowed up close under the stern of the ship, when the officers 
were to be seen at a game of cards in the cabin, and no watch on deck. The spy- 
boat then fell astern to her consort, and reported; when orders were passed to 
board. The boats were rowed up silently — the ship boarded instantly on both 
sides — and not a man was injured. The officers were confined in the cabin, 
and the crew below. The captain ordered the officers and crew to be taken out the 
ship, well fettered, and placed in the whale-boats. Afterwards a few articles 
were taken from the ship, and she was set on fire ; when Captain Hyler left her, 
with his prisoners, for New Brunswck. My informant, one of the men who took 
the ship, stated that the captain of the corvette wept as they were crossing the 
Bay, and reproached himself for permitting one of his Majesty's ships to be sur- 
prised and taken " by two d d egg-shells ;" and he added, that there were S40,000 



APPENDIX. 527 

on board the burning vessel, which Captain Hyler and his crew deserved for their 
gallant enterprise. The booty, however, was lost. 

After the notorious refugee, LippencoU, had barbarously murdered Captain 
Huddy at Sandy-Hook, General Washington was very anxious to have the 
murderer secured. He had been demanded from the British general, and his sur- 
render refused. Retaliation was decided upon by General Washington. Young 
Argill was to be the innocent victim to atone for the deatii of Captain Huddy. 
He was saved by the mediation of the Queen of France. Captain Hyler de- 
termined to take Lippencott. On inquiry, he found that he resided in a well- 
known house in Broad Street, New-York. Dressed and equipped like a man- 
of-war press-gang, he left the Kilns with one boat after dark, and arrived at 
Whitehall about nine o'clock. Here he left his boat in cliarge of three men, 
and then passed to the residence of Lippencott, where he inquired for him, and 
found he was absent, and gone to a cock-pit. Captain Hyler thus failed in the 
object of his pursuit and visit to the city. He returned to his boat with his 
press-gang, and left Whitehall; but finding a sloop laying at anchor off the 
Battery, from the West Indies, laden with rum, he took the vessel, cut her cable, 
set her sails, and with a north-east wind sailed to Elizabeihtown Point, and be- 
fore daylight had landed from her, and secured forty hogsheads of rum. He 
then burnt the sloop to prevent her re-capiure. 

Captain Marriner resided many years at Harlaem, and on Ward's Island, 
after the war. He was a man of eccentric character, witty and ingenious, and 
abounding in anecdotes; but he had his faults. He had been taken by the Bri- 
tish, was on parole in King's County, and quartered with Rem Van Pelt of 
New-Utrecht. The prisoners among the officers had the liberty of the four 
southern towns of the county. Many of them frequented Dr. Van Buren's tavern 
in Flatbush. Here our captain's sarcastic wit, in conversation with Major 
Sherbrook of the British army, led to abusive language from the Major to the 
prisoner. After some time Marriner was exchanged, when he determined to 
capture Major Sherbrook, Colonel Matthews, (the mayor of New-York.) Colo- 
nel Axtell, and a Major Bache, who all resided in Flatbush — were noted and 
abusive Tories, and obnoxious to the American officers. For the puipose of 
carrying his design, into execution, he repaired to New-Brunswick, and procured 
a whale-boat. This he manned with a crew of well-armed volunteers, with 
whom he proceeded to New-Utrecht, and landed on the beach at Bath about half 
past nine o'clock in the evening. Leaving two men in charge of the boat, 
with the rest of the crew he marched unmolested to Flatbush church, where he 
divided his men into four squads, assigning a house to each ; each party or squad 
was provided with a heavy post, to break in the doors. All was silent in the 
village. Captain Marriner selected the house of George Martence, where his 
friend, the Major, quartered, for himself; the other parties proceeded to their as- 
signed houses. Time was given to each to arrive at its destination ; and it was 
agreed that when Marriner struck his door, the others were to break in theirs, 
and repair to the church with their prisoners. The doors were broken at the 
same time. Marriner found the Major behind a large chimney in the garret, 
where he had hidden himself; and where he surrendered, in presence of his 
landlady, who lit the way for Marriner. The Major was permitted to take his 
small clothes in his hand, and thus was marched to the church, where the parties 
assembled. Mr. Bache was taken. Cols. Axtell and Matthews being at New- 



S88 APPKJtDIX. 




ThsfMide Maached, vitk 
: sa6 to Ke* BMievieiL TUs e^ew «e«k place i 

Capoin Manner aba paid Somni Candhfoa of Xe v UtrH^ « vkk ; 
taoklaaiKtNevBngKvkk as a wpam fcr his — utJ w d wi MtkeAMcneu 
H« took Itts taafcaid. aad several anii^es aba, vUck Ik aeglBcacd lo 
AAor C^teHk ManiMrs Tisk to ITaifaash, fmr ialialanai of ^«v 

ITt- r"-- 'ulcea ayaiafcfly, aad a epaiM nIy a^prisoBed m Ae Provoss ii: 

> saepicMMi efkaviag beea eoHwofeed vkk Maiiiwi ia kis cMer- 

pnse : T^: CoL Taa SraMt, kis bnKker Adriaa Yas Banm, Roa Taapek, aiid 



'i^4>oals m d uwd Lm^ Idbad Sand Toy wisafe to tbe 

:^ vessds. TItt vkafe-lwafes visiaed ontaia po^ 

~ ilwy pleaaad ; ^m1 canned Qo o tmdr vilii^v-- 

At II iioiii— I. Tke Btr.ifaiiiii^ aad prataxotr 

TaiAreo: 3eaalaaBedtlttB«7a&sssieMl}',ajadtkeT 

eoKsidend -twodedVf aBanaadfene; aad aaaj 

BnOsk q£ . RfoiRd to BiooBfB or Sev-TodL 

OoLRotie. < Co«aey. nsaded at JaaaicsL Heooo- 

siderad kkz ~ : dn^oaas. aad of the tMOfe 

A Mage- .rdDer aaawd Aacnaaa^ at nosluas, f 

villHnftjc> Ts^ ttied fcr tha criaa^ at Bn^mi^ he- 

feieaetwr - - Jbr vraai of l a a^k al eridaoce 

tkat Aa«t Jaaes Hedges, of Flaskii^. 

^*s aMerdf rr sii i> it^i aa u i i , vko also phw- 

Parade -idtwoofdMaBaTaai^ l 

aad P. -sxa, Sona solfins t 

kadki TkoaavexeslKK 

by Ut: '~aR kSed ia 

Aekv ■ . - • . .-_._. :_,-_,_i._- ^^.atsak. 



Todc, - - ^'^ : '-T^rsj iod ^SDCoer kc Lcc^ ls.ja.\ se^o^ Jq^« Lad- 

lav ae . 

UlTTT 
of linte T?^ 

Life v.- - 



liaiar ^^ --^ -. ? 

of las fiAhar as >i<»-L- 
oaraL aad ^ 
Wkkia-^ 
fiap^;vkaVeiag: ^ 
bjtieWkisstotk 
of tlhe iMMse, aad pr: 
her knsfaaad Hab sk$ « 









Z'eTTraspre*' 




: ?-3kL- 


rkaacsaase. 


i-: V 


:»aiaei 




•> i3^ f 






_ *. 



APPENDIX. 529 

memorable retreat from Long Island in August, 1776. Slie obtained early 
knowledge of this movement the night it took place, and herself saw the first 
detachment push off. Thinking it a good opportunity to be revenged upon those 
vho, she believed. h.id deeply injured her family, she resolved to inform the Bri- 
tish of what was taking place among their enemies. She had no one to send, 
however, with the intbrmation, but a black servant : and accordingly dispatched 
him, with orders to communicate the intelligence to the first British officer he 
could find. The black succeeded in passing the American sentinels, and made 
his way to the neighboring camp; but. unluckily for the success of his mission, 
tame to a part of the encampment wher« the Germans were stationed, and was 
stopped by a soldier who could not understand &iglish, and to whom consequent- 
ly, he could not communicate the message. He was committed, therefore, to the 
guard, as a suspicious person, and kept until morning ; when an officer Tisiiing 
the |X>st examined him, and was informed of what had taken place during the 
night. The alarm was immediately given, but it was too late — Washington 
and his Utx>ps were all safely landed on the opposite shore. 



No. XIII. 

3tamiers 0/ Congress fnvi Ltvpi^ Isiand. 

Thk following persons were monbers of the Old Congress, first from the Pro- 
Tince, and then from ihs State of 2Jew-York, ficom 1774 to 17S9 ; with the time of 
taking their seats, viz : 

1774, September 5, William Floyd. 

1775, May 10. same- 
17TS, October 15, same. 

1773, December C, same, and Erra L'Hommedieu. 

November '23, William Floyd. 
1TS2, August *3S, Elzra L'Hommediea. 

November '21, William Floyd. 
17?3, August 7, E:ra L'Hommedieu. 
17S5, January 11, Zepheniah Platu 
. March 09, Melanc;oa Smith. 
17S7, January 16, same. 

The following named individuals haxe been elected 19 congress since .'the 
adoption of the constitution of the United States, with the tune for which they 
respectively served, viz : 

1'7S9 to 1-791, William Floyd. 
l^Sl to 17J5, Tho.mjis Tredwell. 
1'795 to 1799, Jonathan N. Havens. 
1799 to 1S<>4, John Smith. 
1S04 to 1:S>5, Samuel Riker. 
1S(6 to 1S07. eiphalet Wickej. 
1807 to 1S09, Samuel Riker. 
1809 to 1S13, Ebenezer Sage. 
1S13 to 1S15. Jo!in Lefferts. 
1SI5 to 1317, George Townsend. 

67 



6^ APPEKDII. 

1S17 to J?29, Silas Wood 

19*9 10 1=33, James Lent 

1833 to ls37, Abel Hantington. 

1837 to- the pceseot rime, Thomas B. Jadcsoa. 



INDEX: 




e«ii. 

3I«. 

OvsKr Bay, SL 
MiSler^ Ptere, 377. 
«7. 



J* 



^^^ 



•CSS. 




532 



INDEX. 



Cosby, Governor, arrives, 135. 
Counties, on Long Island, division of. 

125. 
Court of Sessions establis'ied, 110. 

Assize instituted, 113. 
Corum, Village of, 278. 
Cow Neck, notice of, 346. 
Crane Neck, notice of, 27, 275. 

Rev. Elias W. notice of, 391. 
Cross, Rev. Robert, notice of, 390. 
Cuffee, Rev. Paul, notice of, 70. 
Cutting, Rev. Leonard, notice of, 354. 



D 



Dagget, Rev. Herman, notice of, 214, 
274. 

Rev. Napthali, notice of, 307. 
Davenport, Rev. James, notice of, 251. 
Davis, Rev. Thomas, notice of, 330. 
Dedication of this Work, 3. 
De Kay, Dr. James E. notice of, 330. 
De Laet, remarks of, 53. 
De Lancey, Chief Justice, notice of 

137. 
Denton, Rev. Richard, notice of, 352. 
Deiing, General Sylvester, notice of, 
a35. 

Henry P. notice of, 235. 
Discontents, account of the public, 114. 
Discovery of Long Island, 52. 
Dongan, Governor, arrives, 124. 
Dos-oris, account of, 328. 
Duke's laws, digest oli 101. 
Dunmore, Governor, arrives, 140. 
Dutch Government, of the, 71. 
do Capitulation of the, 96, 485. 
do Re-conquest of New-York by 
the, 119. 
Dsvight. Rev. Timothy, remarksof, 48, 
50, 257. 

E 

Earle, Rev. Marmaduke, notice of, 331. 
Eastbampton, account of, 180, 185, 
Elast River, description of, 15. 
Eaton's Neck, account of, 318. 
Eekford. Henry, notice of, 358. 
Eclipse and Henry, race between, 400. 
Eigenbrodt, Lewis E. A. memoir of, 

406. 
English, claims of, to Long Island, 87. 
Epitaphs, curious, 236, 246, 338. 
Erratic Blocks of Long Island, 31, 40. 
Execution- rock, account of, 46. 

P 

Farret, James, notice of, 88. 
Fatoute, Rev. George, notice of, 391. 



Feeks, Rev. Robert, notice of, 330. 
Fire Islands and inlet, 12, 298. 
Fish used as manure, 44, 245. 
Fisher's Island, account of, 247. 
Fletcher, Governor, arrives, 131. 
Floyd, Richard, and family, notice of, 

282. 
do General William, memoir of, 

283. 
Fordham, Rev. Robert, notice of, 213. 
Fort Neck, account of, 332. 
Flatbush, description of, 456. 
Flallands, description of, 447. 
Flushing, description of, 370. 
Fox, George, visit to Long Island, 374. 
Francis, Rev. Amzi, notice of, 215. 
Frseligh, Rev. Solomon, notice of, 393. 
Fresh Ponds, mention of, 306. 
Frogs, found in the earth, 49. 
Funk, Rev. Seymour P. notice of, 391. 



G 



Gallatin, Albert, letters of, 472. 
Gardiner's Island, account of, 198, 203. 

do Lyon, notice of, and family, 

199. 

do Rev. John D. notice of, 220. 
Gelston, Rev. Samuel, notice of, 213. 
General description of Long Island, 11. 
Geology of Long Island, 19 to 54. 
Gleason, Rev. Luther, notice of, 307. 
Glen Cove, account of, 331. 
Goetschius, Rev. Henry, notice of, 392. 
Goldsmith, Rev. John, notice of, 417. 
do Zacheus, memoir of, 255. 
Goodwin, Rev. Mr. notice of, 376. 
Gorden, Uev. Patrick, notice of, 393. 
Governors, List of (from 1025 to 1839,) 

487. 
Grace Church, Jamaica, dedicated, 395- 
Gravesend, description of, 437. 
Grant, Charles, letter from, 472. 
Greaton, Rev. James, notice of, 316. 
Greene, Rev. Zachariah, notice of, 251, 

272. 
Green Port, description of, 252. 
Griswold, lidward, memoir of, 368. 
Gulf Stream, effects of, 13. 
Gull Islands, account of, 247. 

H 

Hacket, James H. notice of, 402. 
Hale, Captain, memoir of, 523. 
Hall, Ralph and wife, trial of, 151. 

do Hev. Richard D. notice of, 356. 
Hallets-Cove, di sc .iption of, 418. 
Hallock, Rev. Noah, notice of, 274. 
Hamilton, Fort, account of, 452. 



INDES. 



63S 



Hammel, Rev. WiUiam, notice of, 396. 
Harbor-Hill, mention of, 14. 366. 
Hardy, Governor, arrives, I3ti. 
Harrison, Robert H., leiter from to 

President of Congress, 520. 
Hart, Rev. Joshua, notice of, 306, 307- 

do Rev. Sell), nonce of, 356. 
Havens, Jonathan N., Epitaph of, 235. 
Hazzard, Rev. Joseph, notice ot, 251. 
Heathci.te, Rev. George, notice of, 390. 
Head of the River, Village of, 306. 
Hell-Gate, notice of, 47, 418. 
Hempstead, description of, 341. 

do Village, description of, 356. 

do Harbor, notice of, 366. 
Hicks, Elias, memoir of, 340. 
Hicksville, account of, 332. 
Hobartj Rev Joshua, notice of, 2-50. 

do John Sloss, memoir of, 319. 

do Rev. Jeremiah, notice of, 352. 

do Rev. John Henry, memoir of, 
355. 
Hog-Neck, account of, 228. 
HoppGgues, notice of, 306. 
^Hoiion, Rev. Simon, notice of, 416. 
Hubburd, Rev. John, notice ot, 387. 
Hudson, Henry, Journal of, 53. 
Hulse, Ur. Isaac, memoir of, 279. 
Hunting, Rev. Jonathan, notice of, 251. 

do Col. Benjamin, 221. 

do Rev. Nathaniel, notice of, 193. 
Huntington, description of, 309. 

do First newspaper in, 318. 
Hunter, Governor, arrives, 134. 
Hyde Park, notice of, 367. 
Hyler, Captain, notice of, 526. 



I 



Indians, of Long Island, and tribes, 31, 

65. 

do Purchases from, 104, 
Ireland, Rev. John, 396. 
Islip, description of, 293. 



Jamaica, description of, 382. 

do Press established in, 398. 
James, Rev. Thorn us, notice of, 192. 
Jefferson, port, description of, 276. 
Jenny, Rev. Thomas, notice of, 354. 
Jerusalem, village of, 358. 
Jericho, village of, 331. 
Johnson, Rev. William L., notice of, 
396. 

do William Martin, memoir of, 
402. 
do Rev. Evan M., notice of, 
376, 417. 



Johnson, General, correspondence of, 

471. 
Jones' Fund, notice of, 334. 

do Rev. Eliphalet, notice of, 314. 
do Samuel Jones and family, 
memoir of 338. 
do David S., mansion of, 333. 



K 



Keteltas, Rev. Abraham, notice of, 401. 
Kidd's Rock, account of, 36, 365. 
Kidd, William, notice of, IcO, 201. 

do treasure buried by, 203. 
Kieft, Governor, arrives, 76. 
King's County, description of, 169. 

do Judges of, 171, 172. 

do members of assembly in, 
1-2,173. 

do Census of, 179. 

do Poor- House in, 462. 
King, Rufus, memoir of, 405. 
Kuypers,Rev. Zachariah, notice of, 396. 

do Rev. John, notice of, 406. 



Lakeville, description of, 363. 
L'Hommedieu, Ezra, memoir of, 254. 
Laws, Duke's, account of, 101. 
Lawrence, Jonathan, and family, me- 
moir of, 421. 
Leisler, Jacob, notice of, 127, 130. 

do Commission from, 447. 
Lester, 'I'homas S., notice of, 254. 
Leverich, Rev. William, notice of, 313, 

416. 
Lewis, Francis, memoir of, 37 
Linnean Gardens, account of, 376. 
Lloyd's Neck, description of, 326. 
Long Island, description of, 11. 

do Battle of, .') 15. 

do Soil and Climate of, 16. 

do Discovery of, 52. 

do Names tor, 54. 

do Grant for, 89. 

Lovelace, Governor, arrives, 134. 
J Ludlow, Roger, notice of, 268. 
Lyceum, Brooklyn, notice of, 477. 
Lyon, Rev. James, notice of, 274. 

M 

Magnetic Iron on Long Island, 30. 
Magistrates, mode of choosing, 78. 
Magnets, Rev. George, noiice of, 389. 
Manhasset, description of, 364. 
Marshes of Long Island, 33. 
Marks, of cattle and horses, 105. 
Marriner, Captain, notice of, 5*26. 



534 



INDEX. 



Maspeth, description of, 418. 
Mastic, notice of, 281. 
Matinecock, sale of, by Indians, 324. 
Mei^'s expedition, account of, 217. 
Miller's Place, account of, 277. 
Mills, Samuel, death of, 164. 

Rev. William, notice of, 391. 
Mills' Pond, Village of, 303. 
Ministry, Act for settling a, 132. 
Mitchill Dr. Samuel L., memoir of, 

369. 
Monkton, Governor, arrives, 139. 
Montgomery, Governor, arrives, 135. 
Moody, Lady Deborah, notice of, 

84, 439. 
Montauk, description of, 197. 
Montrose, Village of, 366. 
Moore, Rev. Thomas L., notice of, 355. 

Governor, arrives, 139. 
Moriches, description of, 282. 
Morse, Rev. John, notice of, 416. 
Mount, Henry, and brothers, notice of, 

292. 



N 



Nanfan, Governor, arrives, 133. 
Narrative, and remonstrance of depu- 
ties, 491. 
Nassau, name given to Long Island, 

131. 
Naval Hospital, Brooklyn, 477. 
Near-Rockaway, description of, 358. 
Negro Plot, account of, 136. 
New- Haven, laws of, 2J9. 
•-"Newtown, description of, 410. 
New Utrecht, description of, 450. 
New-York, taken by the English, 98. .«, 

Re-captured by the Dutch, 119. 

Re^^tored to the English, 122. 
Nicolls, Governor, arrives, 92. 

William, notice of, and family, 
299. 

Patent to, 295. 
North Hempstead, description of, 361. 
North Port, notice of, 316. 
Norton, Nathaniel, memoir of, 284. 
Norwich, Village of, 331. 

O 

Occom, Rev. Sampson, notice of, 69. 
Ogden, Dr. Jacob, notice of, 167. ^-^ 

Old Man's, Village of, 277. 
Osborn, Hail, notice of, 261. 

Selleck, notice of, 225. 
Oyster Bay, description of, 32J. 

Village of, 329. 

Visit of George Fox to, 330. 
Oyster Ponds, description of, 22, 245. 



160, 



Paul Cuffee, Rev. notice of, 70. 
Pavilion, at Rockaway, described, 359, 
Peat, beds of, on Long Island, 33. 
Patchogue, Village ot; 280. 
Patents, form of in ancient times, 79. 
Persecution of the Q,uakers, 494. 
Philips, Rev. George, notice of 

269,387. 
Pierson, Rev. Abraham, notice of, 212. 
Plandome, description of, 363. 
Plumb Island, description of, 247. 
Poyer, Rev. Thomas, notice of, 394. 
Pomeroy, Rev. Samuel, notice of, 416. 
Prime, Rev. Ebenez.er, notice of, 315. 
Dr. Benjamin Y., memoir of, 

319. 
Prison-ships, account of the, 479. 
Prudden, Rev. John, notice of, 387. 

.0- 

Quaker's, persecutions of the, 494. 
Queen's County, description of, 157. 

Judges and Clerks in, 150, 
159. 

Members of assembly, 159, 

Population of, 159. 
Address of ihe people to Gov. 
Tryon, 166. 

Court House built in, 3G3. 

R 

Ram Island, notice of, 237. 
^Rapelje, Sarah, notice of, 463. 
Rapelje, John, notice of, 528. 
Rattoon, Rev. Elijah D., notice of, 396. 
Reeve, Rev. Abner, notice of, 306. 

Tappen, memoir of, 306. 
Remonstrance of the several towns, 

489. 
Ridings, term explained, 107. 
Riker's Island, notice of, 45. 
Riker, Dr. John Berrien, memoir cf, 

427. 

Richard, notice of, 428. 
Rhodes, Foster, notice of, 215. 

Rev. William, notice of, 330. 
Riverhead, description of, 256. 
"Robins Island, account of, 244. 
Rack Hall, notice of, 359. 
Rockaway, watering-place, 359. 
Rogers, Nathaniel, memoir of, 230. 
Romeyn, Rev. Thomas, notice of, 392. 
Ronkonkoma Pond, described, 296, 



INDEX. 



635 



Sa»e, Dr. Ebenezer, memoir of, 225. 
Sagg-harbor, village of, described, 216. 

Great fire in, 227. 
Salt Marshes of Long Island, 30, 34. 
Sampson, Latimer, will af, 148. 
Sand-dunes, account of, 28. 
Sand ford, Nathan, notice of, 215, 377. 
Sands'-Point, notice of, 35, 3G5. 
Sandstones of Long Island, 31. 
Sayre, Rev. Gilbert, notice of, 396. 

Stephen, memoir of, 228. 
Schoonmaker, Rev. Martinus, notice 

of, 460. 

Rev. Jacob, notice of, 393. 
Seabury, Rev. Samuel, notice of • 

354, 395, 

Rev. Charles, notice of, 274. 
Setauket, Village of, 277. 
Shaw, Rev. Peter, notice of, 214. 
Shelter Island, description of, 233. 
Silliman, General, account of, 335. 
Skinner, Abraham, notice of, 399. "^ 
Slaughter, Governor, arrives, 130. 
Smith, Richard, notice of, 304. 

William, and family, notice 

of, 501. 
Smi.ii'own, description of, 302. 
Soil and climate of Long Island, 16,43. 
Sound, Long Island, described, 14. 
South Beach, notice of, 13, 37. 
Southampton, description of, 204. 

Remonstrance of, 493. 
Southold, description of, 237. 
Spencer. Rev. Elisha, notice of, 390. 
Spring Hill, notice of, 379. 
Squaw Islands, described, 332. 
Standard, Rev. Mr. notice of, 273. 
Stepping-stones, notice of, 47. 
Stirling, Lord, letter from, to Washing- 
ton, 521. 
Storrs, Rev. John, notice of, 251. 
Strebeck, Rev. George, notice of, 396. 
Strickland Plain, bafl- of, 76. 
Strong's Neck, description of, 275. 
Strong, Judge Selah, notice of, 275. 
Stuyvesant, Governor, notice of, 76, 84, 

373. 

Commission from, 446. 
Success Pond, description of, 363. 
Suffolk County, described, 142. 

Members of assembly, &c., 

154, 155. 

Executions in, 145. 
Sullivan, General, letter to president of 

congress, 522. 
Symmes, John Cleves, notice of, 259. , 



Tallmadge, Rev.' Benjamin, notice of, 
271. 



288. 



Col. Benjamin, memoir of, 



Tammany, an Indian chief, account of, 

64. 
Taxes, in town of Brooklyn, 474. 
Taylor, Rev. Joseph, notice of, 213. 
Rev. Daniel, notice of, 305. 
Thomas, Rev. John, notice of, 353. 
Thorborn, Grant, notice of, 420. 
Throop, Rev. William, notice of, 251. 
Tobacco Statute, quoted, 177. 
Townsend, John, Henry, and Richard, 

notice of, 496. 
Tredwell, Thomas, memoir of, 308. 
Tribes of Indians on Long Island, 65. 
Tribute, paid by Long Island Indians, 

59. 
Truxton, Thomas, memoir of, 403. 
Tryon, Governor, arrives, 140. 



Underbill, John, memoir of, 336. 
Union Course, account of, 399. 

Hall, academy built, 397. 
Urquhart, Rev. William, notice of, 
393, 



Van Dam, Rip, president of the coun- 
cil, 135. 

Van Dyke, Rev. Mr. notice of, 417. 

Van Eckkellen, Johannis, contract of, 
178. 

Van Nest, Rev. Rynier, notice of, 393. 

Van Twiller, Governor, arrives, 73. 

W 

Walker, Rev. Zackariah, notice of, 387. 
Waliabout, description of, 477. 
Wampum, and tribute, account of, 58. 
Washington, letters from, 286, 269, 

514, 515. 
Webster,'Rev. Charles, notice of, 353. 
Weed, Rev. Henry R., notice of, 391. 
Westbury, description of, 332, 
West-Neck, notice of, 318. 
Wetmore, Rev. Noah, notice of, 272. 
Whaling business of Sag Harbor, 221, 
White, Rev, Calvin, notice of, 396. 

Rev. Ebenezer, notice of, 214, 

^Whiting, Rev. Joseph, notice of, 213, 



536 INDEX. 

Wickham, John, notice of, 255. Wolver- Hollow, Village of, 331. 

Williamsburgh, account of, 434. Woolsey, Rev. Benjamin, 251, 328. 

■ Wilson, Rev. Henry N., notice of, 214. Wright, Rev. Caleb, notice of, 330. 
Winthrop, John, and family, notice of Wyatt, Rev. William, notice of, 417- 

249. 
Witchcraft, trials for, 151, 162. ' Y 

Wood, Silas, dedication to, 3. 
Woodbridge, Rev. Sylvester, notice of, Yates, Abraham, letters from, 514. 

353. Yorkshire, when erected, 105. 

WoodhuU, Gen., memoir of, 503. Youngs, Rev. David, notice of, 271. 

Rev. Nathan, notice of, 315, Rev. John, notice of, 250. 

416. 



ERRATA. 



The reader is requested to correct with his pen the following er- 
rors in the te.xt of this work, viz : 

Page 11, line 6, for 90® read 69°. 13, line 4 from foot, for east read west. 

97, line 12 from foot, for 1G14 read 1664. 109, line 9 from foot, for county 

read country. 119, line 6, for 1773, read 1673. 130, line 2 fiom foot, for 

1589 read 1689. 133, line 7, for 1679 read 1699. 155, in title, for Queens 

read Suffolk. 158, line 6, for 1778 read 1788. 171, line 13, a.{ter immediately, 

insert and. 200, second paragraph, for Daniel read David. 261, in title, 

for Riverhead read Brookhaven. 251, line 2 from foot, for Huntington read 

Hunting. 253, lines 11 and 12 from foot, for 1734 and 1737, read 1834 and 

1837. 363, line 20, iovnoHh read south. 394, line 15, for 1810 read 1710. 

405, line 21, after appointed insert aid. 416, last line, for 1775 read 17f9. 

419, line 26, for wood read wool. 440, line 11, iox principles read views. 



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